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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



DR. ABBOTTS WORKS. 



HOW TO PARSE. An Attempt to Apply the Principles 
of Scholarship to English Grammar. With Appendixes on 
Analysis, Spelling, and ^Punctuation. i6mo. Cloth. Price, 
$1.00. 

HOW TO TELL THE PARTS OF SPEECH. An 

Introduction to English Grammar. American edition, revised 
and enlarged by Prof. John G. R. McElroy, of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania. i6mo. Cloth. Price, 75 cents. 

HOW TO WRITE CLEARLY. Rules and Exercises in 
English Composition. i6mo. Cloth. Price, 60 cents. 

ENGLISH LESSONS FOR ENGLISH PEOPLE. 

Jointly by Dr. Abbott and Prof. J. R. Seeley, M.A., of Cam- 
bridge University, Eng. i6mo. Cloth. Price, J 1.50. 



ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers, 

Boston. 



( 

HOW TO TELL <&.()$* 

THE PARTS OF SPEECH, 

AN 

Introduction to lEnslisfj Grammar. 

BY THE 

REV. EDWIN A. ABBOTT, D.D., 

Head Master of the City of London School; 

AUTHOR OF "HOW TO WRITE CLEARLY," "HOW TO PARSE," AND, JOINTLY 

WITH PROFESSOR SEELEY, OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, ENGLAND, 

OF "ENGLISH LESSONS FOR ENGLISH PEOPLE." 



AMERICAN EDITION, 

JSririseJj snB Enlarges, 

By JOHN G. R. McELROY, A.M., 

PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN THE 
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



BOSTON: 

ROBERTS BROTHERS. 

1881. 






IE nil 

.A3 



Copyright, 1881, 
By Roberts Brothers. 



University Press: 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. 



NOTE TO THE AMEBIC AN EDITION. 



Dr. Abbott's grammars, How to Tell the Parts of Speech 
and How to Parse, are distinguished, not alone by the 
reform the points of which he records on page viii. of his 
Preface to the .present work, but also by the unloading from 
the subject of all its rubbish, — useless tables of foreign 
plurals, long paradigms of forms already well known or 
to be learned only by experience, etc., etc. (Preface, 
p. x). 

Both these praiseworthy characteristics are carefully pre- 
served in the reprint ; the few changes made (after consulta- 
tion with Dr. Abbott, and by his permission) in no way 
affecting essentials. A few technical terms, omitted by 
the author but fully described by him, are added ; para- 
graph-numbers, consecutive throughout the book, are given, 
to facilitate references and the setting of lessons ; and nu- 
merous exercises, suggested by Dr. Abbott in Note 3, are 
inserted. These exercises, also numbered consecutively, 
will, it is hoped, not only render the meaning of the text 
more clear, but will also serve as lessons in Composition. 
Grammar and Composition are (in elementary instruction, 
certainly) correlatives ; and they have both suffered in the 
too common obscuring of their mutual relations. 

Matter added in this edition is denoted by the sign *. 

A few of Dr. Abbott's Notes are taken up into the text, 
but as far as possible in Dr. Abbott's own words. New 
notes are then substituted; as, in other places, additional 
notes are inserted. 

J. G. E. McE. 



PREFACE. 



Ttte conviction that any child can be taught "how to tell 
the Parts of Speech n in any sentence that he can under- 
stand, has induced me to publish this little book. I believe 
that a very young child may be taught, almost without 
knowing that he is being taught, first to classify English 
words according to their function in the sentence, and then 
to infer the nature of each word from its function ; or, as a 
child would put it, to tell you first what the word does, and 
then what Part of Speech the word is. 

The principal mistake in teaching English grammar 
hitherto seems to have been the attempt to assimilate it to 
Latin grammar. All the grammatical nomenclature of the 
inflected Latin language having been imported, as a mat- 
ter of course, into the teaching of the uninfected English, 
teachers next set to work at finding English things for the 
Latin names. For example, they first imported into Eng- 
lish the Latin word " Gender," which represents a Latin 
reality, and then, inventing an English unreality to corre- 
spond to the Latin importation, they insisted on making 
their pupils repeat, as an important point in English gram- 
mar, that "hen" is the feminine of "cock," and "she- 
•goat" of "he-goat." In the same way, a whole system 
of syntactical concords was invented, not because the con- 
cords existed, but because their names existed, having been 
obtruded into English grammar. This has given a sense 
of unreality to elementary English teaching, from which 
even now we have not quite extricated ourselves. 



vi Preface. 

The following extract from a paper read before "the 
Birmingham Association of Teachers of all Grades" will 
serve as an exposition of the remedy suggested and aimed 
at in the following pages : — 

" The reform that I would suggest is based, 1st, upon 
honesty j a determination to approach the subject with a 
single eye, to discard all one's hampering Latin notions, 
and not to say one sees in English what one really does 
not see; 2d, upon experiment, guiding a boy from his 
own language (not from poetical examples, nor from choice 
classical prose), to see the necessity of certain words ; 3d, 
upon reasoning , teaching him to reason out what part of 
speech each word is for himself. 

" Of these three principles, honesty needs no comment, 
nor does experiment need much (though some teachers 
seem to be hardly aware how valuable a lesson English 
grammar may be made in the way of enlarging a child's 
stock of words and notions by i experiment 7 ) : but how is 
a boy to reason out what part of speech a word is ? Thus : 
he is to be taught for some time to - tell you what a word 
does , before he is asked or even permitted to tell you what 
the word is. The fundamental principle of English gram- 
mar may be stated with little exaggeration as being this, 
that any tcord may be used as any part of speech. It is 
therefore the force and meaning of the word, as gathered 
from the meaning of the sentence, that must determine 
what part of speech the word is ; for example, whether 
i considering 7 is a Participle, an ordinary Noun, or a 
Verbal Noun, a part of some Tense in a Verb, or a Prep- 
osition.* We must, therefore, not allow our pupil to tell 

* For example, in the words " Considering your youth, it is 
possible your fault may be pardoned." If this sentence is English, 
which can scarcely be denied, it is the merest pedantry to deny 
that " considering" is a Preposition here. See Morris's " Historical 
Outlines of English Accidence," p. 206. 



Preface. vii 

us what part of speech the word is till he has told us its 
function, or, in his own words, what the word does. 

u Perhaps some one may say ' Of course, no good teacher 
would let his pupils say what part of speech a word is 
without being able to explain why.' But I submit that 
this is not quite the same thing. Giving reasons after the 
answer is not the same mental process as giving first the 
facts, and then deducing the answer from the facts. A 
boy that has given a bad answer will generally find little 
difficulty in supporting it with a bad reason. But if you 
fix his attention first on what the word does, before he has 
committed himself to an error, and while his mind is open 
to receive the truth, he is more likely to reason in an un- 
biased and honest way ; and, besides, he will attach import- 
ance to that which is really important, — I mean the 
function, and not the name of the word. 

"I should like to be able to go into any elementary 
school, and to be sure of hearing children reasoning thus : 
' Quickly tells you how he came; therefore it is an Adverb. 7 
* Black tells you what sort of a horse it was; there- 
fore it is an Adjective.' i Horse is the name of an animal ; 
therefore it is a Noun. 7 t That joins two sentences together : 
therefore it is a Conjunction. 7 * Twice tells you how often 
he fell; therefore it is an Adverb. 7 That word 'there- 
fore 7 is a word that might with advantage be indeli- 
bly engraved on the heart of every child. In the use of 
that word consists the system that I wish to recommend. 
Facts first, reasoning from the facts afterwards. I stand 
here as against the claims of 6 because, 7 to advocate the 
claims of i therefore. 7 

" Eather more time and pains than are given at present 
will perhaps be required to teach a child thus to experi- 
mentalize, to reason, and to classify : but the time will 
probably be well bestowed ; and, besides, we may perhaps 
gain time by dispensing with a good deal now generally 



viii Preface. 

taught. I should be disposed to give up as either super- 
fluous or hopeless the attempt to teach au English child 
how to speak English out of an English Grammar. If he 
is ever to speak English correctly, he will learn it by- 
speaking it ; if he is ever to use the words loci and cheru- 
bim, maxima and minima, he will, before he uses them, 
have learned the correct forms, by hearing others use them. 
Nor do I see, I confess, the use of making an English boy 
go through the whole of the Verb ' I love/ including such 
out-of-the-way Tenses as ' I may have been loving/ i I shall 
have been loved/ etc. A Verb thus learned seems to me to 
convey little benefit, and gives a sense of unreality to the 
lesson — for the boy uses his Verbs in all probability quite 
correctly already — and it is a very dull and wearisome task. 
I would discard the task, and all such tasks, and make the 
business of the teacher not to teach the boy how to speak 
English, but how to understand English, and how to see 
the reasons for the anomalies in it. Common faults, if 
they are common in a certain neighborhood, such as l says 
1/ ' will ' for ' shall/ and the like, may be eradicated with- 
out compelling a boy to go through the whole of an 
English Verb ) and the symmetry of the Tenses may be 
perceived better, not worse, by discarding the drudgery." * 

To come to details — it is hoped that the Exercises may 
be less wearisome than such exercises mostly are. They 
have been written with the special purpose of exemplifying 
the rules of parsing, while at the same time they have 
been thrown into the form of little tales or fables. They 
are intended chiefly as oral exercises, but may be after- 
wards written. 

It seems to me to have been a serious mistake in teach- 
ing English Grammar to give young children, by way of 
examples and exercises, chips of sentences, always dry, 

* The Tenses are not dealt with in this book. 



Preface. ix 

dull, and uninteresting, and often ambiguous, and to call 
them " Simple Exercises." Easy and connected narrative 
(not poetical extracts, which are full of inversions and 
irregularities) should be given to a child as soon as he 
begins to parse. For no child ought to be able to parse a 
sentence that he does not perfectly understand. 

The Specimen Exercises worked out for the child are 
purposely made more difficult than the Exercises given 
to the child to work out for himself. The intention has 
been gradually to prepare the learner to grapple with 
difficulties in a logical way, and to accustom him to believe 
that all difficulties can be logically overcome. For un- 
doubtedly there are difficulties in English grammar ; there 
are probably more in English than in Latin and Greek. 
But the beauty of the difficulties in English grammar is 
that they can be reasoned about by English children, and 
that the materials for such reasoning lie in the child's own 
mouth: his own speech supplies him with the best founda- 
tion for argument. For they are to be solved by appeal, 
not' to inflections, but to the function of each word, which 
an English boy is quite able to comprehend, provided that 
the subject-matter is suitably simple. 

At the risk of appearing to practise mechanical, while 
advocating intelligent teaching, I have ventured to insert 
" tests," side by side with definitions. Experience has con- 
vinced me that they are useful as occasional crutches, and 
can easily be thrown aside when no longer needed. 

If the book should seem somewhat diffuse, attempting 
to fill up what should be supplied rather by a teacher than 
a book, my apology must be that it is intended for parents 
as well as for professional teachers, and that most books 
on this subject hitherto have rather erred on the side of 
conciseness than diffuseness. 

Perhaps the attempt to be colloquial and to avoid hard 
words may seem to some experienced teachers carried to 



x Preface. 

excess. But I cannot help thinking that one cause of the 
present unsatisfactory condition of the teaching of English 
grammar is to be found in the exuberant vocabulary of 
technical terms often obtruded into elementary books. Far 
better, as it seems to me, to lead the pupil first to the 
things, teaching him to recognize different classes of Verbs, 
Conjunctions, Adjectives, and to reserve for a later treatise 
the technical names of such distinctions. To take an in- 
stance, I have been asked why the usual Definition of a Prep- 
osition instead of being placed in the text, has been relegated 
to the notes, for the use of any teachers that may like to 
use it? My answer is that, in an elementary book, to 
define a word by saying that it " shows the relation of a 
Noun or Pronoun to some other word in the sentence" 
seems to me of little use even for clever children, and of 
great harm for dull ones. I confess further, for my part, I 
should have thought that in the sentence " Thomas pro- 
tects John," Thomas stands in the relation of a protector 
to John, so that "protects" shows the relation between 
"Thomas' 7 and "John," and is therefore, according to 
this definition, a Preposition. Possibly, therefore, the 
definition ought to be rejected because it is false, certainly 
because it is unintelligible to those for whom it is intended. 

The notes at the end of the book are intended rather for 
the teacher than the learner, to meet difficulties and answer 
questions that may arise in the course of teaching. 

Some explanation may be required of the title, " How to 
tell the Parts of Speech." The reason for selecting this 
title, and for not calling the book an " English Grammar " 
is, that a great many boys learn " English grammar " for 
several years without being able to tell an Adjective from 
an Adverb, or a Conjunction from a Preposition. Out of 
about three hundred boys, averaging more than twelve 
years of age, and examined in one year as candidates for 
admission into the City of London School, less than half 



Preface. xi 

could tell what part of speech " quickly" was. It there- 
fore suggested itself as possible that a less ambitious boolr 
than an " English Grammar/ 7 a book that dared to dis- 
pense with a full list of the names of male and female ani- 
mals, and that ventured to omit the inculcation of such 
minutiae as the plurals of cherub and locus, — in a word, a 
book that assumed that English boys will learn English by 
speaking and reading it, if they are to learn it at all — 
might have a modest but useful work to do in simply teach- 
ing children, what at present few children know, namely, 
"how to tell the Parts of Speech." 

A little pupil, trained according to this system, once 
answered the question "How are you getting on with your 
grammar ? n by saying that " he was not learning grammar, 
but he could tell an Adverb from a Conjunction." It is 
the Author's hope that many children may, in the same 
way, be taught by this little book to tell an Adverb from a 
Conjunction, even though they may be ignorant that they 
are u learning grammar." 

I am under obligations for much valuable help to many 
able and experienced teachers, some of whom I have before 
had occasion to thank in other Prefaces, and all of whom 
I would gladly mention here if space permitted. But 
more than a general acknowledgment is due from me to 
Mr. Gr. S. Brockington, one of the Assistant Masters of 
King Edward's School, Birmingham, and to Mr. T. W. 
Chambers, B.A., Scholar of Sidney Sussex College, Cam- 
bridge, one of my own colleagues at the City of London 
School, whose careful and searching criticisms have had a 
material effect in modifying the book as it passed through 
the press. 

In reviewing the Second Edition I have added an abridg- 
ment of the Appendix on Spelling, together with the Etymo- 



xii Preface, 

logical Glossary of Grammatical Terms, both of which are 
contained in the Second Part, entitled "How to Parse." 
These additions are made for the convenience of those who 
may use this book as an introduction to English Grammar, 
without proceeding to " How to Parse." 

If the pupil is intended to proceed to the Second Part, I 
should recommend him to defer the study of Chapter X. 
of this work, until he has mastered the first three chap- 
ters of " How to Parse." 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Comparative Table of Pages, English and Amer- 



ican Editions xv 

Nouns / 2 



■. '. '. '. 7. ; : : : : 

Pronouns .-". 3 

Adjectives 13 

Verbs 21 

HOW TO TELL THE PARTS OE SPEECH ...... 29 

Adverbs 35 

Prepositions . 50 

Conjunctions . 63 

Other Pronouns : 

(1.) Adjective Pronouns 85 

(2.) Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns .... 90 

(3.) Indefinite Pronouns 91 

(4.) Interrogative Pronouns 91 

(5.) Conjunctive Pronouns 92 

(6.) Relative Pronouns . 95 

Uses op the Verb . . .- . . 105 

Notes 113 

Scheme showing "How to Tell the Parts op 

Speech " 120, 121 

Appendix on Spelling 123 

Etymological Glossary op Grammatical Terms . 131 

Summary of Definitions 140 



COMPAEATIVE TABLE OF PAGES, 

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN EDITIONS.* 





English. 


Ameri- 
can. 


English. 


Ameri- 
can. 


English. 


Ameri- 
can. 


English. 


Ameri- 
can. 


Page. 


Page. 


Page. 


Page. 


Page. 


Page. 


Page. 


Page. 


1-4 


i.-iv. 


23 


11 


43 


28 


63 


478 


— 


V. 


24 


11 


44 


29 


64 


48 8 


5 


vii* 


— 


12 


45 


31* 


65 


49 8 


6 


viii. 


25 


13 


46 


315 


66 


49 


7 


ix. 


26 


14 


47 


32 


67 


49 


8 


X. 


27 


14 


48 


32 6 


68 


50 


9 


xi. 


28 


16 


49 


32 7 


69 


51 


10 


xi. 


29 


16 


50 


34 8 


70 


52 


11 


xii. 


30 


17 


— 


35 


71 


53 


12 


xiii. 


31 


18 


51 


36 


72 


54 


13 


xiv. 


32 


19 


52 


37 


73 


54 


15 


1 


33 


20 


53 


38 


74 


55 


16 


2 


34 


20 


. 54 


39 


75 


56 


.17 


3 


35 


21 


55 


40 


76 


57 


18 


4 


36 


22 


56 


40 


77 


58 


— 


5 


37 


23 


57 


41 


78 


59 


— 


6 


38 


24 


58 


42 


79 


618 


19 


7 3 


39 


24 


59 


43 8 


80 


60 8 


20 


8 


40 


25 


60 


448 


81 


618 


21 


9 


41 


26 


61 


44 


82 


62 


22 


10 


42 


27 1 

1 


62 


45 


83 


63 





1 To facilitate references from Dr. Abbott's How to Parse (Boston, 
Roberts Brothers, 1878). 

• 2 This and subsequent numbers denote the American page on 
which the English page ends : the latter often begins one page before. 

3 Begins on p. 4. 

4 Begins on p. 29, and is in part on p. 30. 

6 Begins and ends on p. 31, but is in part on p. 30. 

6 Begins on p. 33. 7 Begins, and is in great part, on p. 33. 

8 Begins two pages before. 



XVI 



Comparative Table. 



Comparative Table. — Continued. 





English. 


Ameri- 
can. 


English. 


Ameri- 
can. 


English. 


Ameri- 
can.- 


English. 


Ameri- 
can. 


Page. 


Page. 


Page. 


Page. 


Page. 


Page. 


Page. 


Page. 


84 


64 


107 


83 


128 


102 


149 


126 


85 


65 


108 


83 


129 


103 


150 


127 


86 


66 


109 


84 


130 


103 


151 


128 


87 


66 


110 


85 


— 


104 


152 


128 


88 


67 


111 


86 


131 


105 


153 


129 


89 


68 


112 


87 


132 


106 


155 


131 


90 


69 


113 


88 


133 


106 9 


156 


132 


91 


70 


114 


89 


134 


108 10 


157 


133 


92 


71 


115 


90 


135 


109 


158 


134 


93 


71 


— 


90 


136 


109 


159 


135 


94 


72 


— 


91 


137 


110 


160 


135 


95 


73 


116 


92 


138 


111 


161 


136 


96 


74 


117 


93 


139 


114 


162 


137 


97 


74 


118 


94 


140 


115 


163 


138 


98 


75' 


119 


94' 


141 


116 


164 


139 


99 


76 


120 


95 


142 


116 


165 


139 


100 


77 


121 


96 


143 


118 


166 


140 


101 


78 


122 


97 


144 


119 


167 


141 


102 


79 


123 


98 


Inset 
144-145 


120-121 


168 


142 


103 


80 


124 


98 


145 


123 


169 


143 


104 


80 


125 


99 


146 


124 






105 


81 


126 


100 


147 


125 






106 


82 


127 


101 


148 


126 


... 


... 





9 Distributed over pp. 105 - 
io In part on pp. 106, 107. 



107. 



HOW TO TELL 
THE PARTS OF SPEECH: 

AN 

Entrotmcttott to ©ttgttefj ©rammar* 



CHAPTER I. 
NOUNS. 

1. Tell roe the names of some persons ; such as 
John, Mary. 

2. Tell me the names of some places ; such as 
London, Middlesex, England. 

3. Tell me the names of some things that you can 
see, feel, hear, or smell ; such as apples, soldiers, 
cat, sky, air, thunder, gas. 

*4. Tell me the names of some groups of per- 
sons or things ; such as class, family, crowd, flock, 
herd. 

Exercise I. 

* Write or repeat four names of (1) boys; (2) 
girls ; (3) places ; (4) rivers ; (5) public buildings ; 
(6) dogs ; (7) horses ; (8) other animals ; etc. 

Write or repeat four names of (1) things good to 
eat ; (2) parts of a house ; (3) parts of the body ; 



2 The Parts of Speech. 

(4) parts of a tree ; (5) parts of a book ; (6) parts 
of a ship ; (7) things used for writing ; (8) tools 
used by a gardener ; (9) by a carpenter, etc. 

* Write or repeat as many names as you can of 
groups of (1) boys or girls ; (2) soldiers ; (3) other 
persons ; (4) animals ; (5) trees ; (6) houses ; (7) 
books ; etc. 

5. Now look at this piece of chalk. What sort of a 
thing is it ? It is white, solid, rough or smooth, useful, 
small or large. All these words tell us the qualities 
of the chalk {quality means ' of what sort ') : well, I 
want names of these qualities ; give me them : white- 
ness^ solidness or solidity, roughness or smooth- 
ness, usefulness or utility, smallness, largeness. 

You cannot see usefidness, but usefulness is the 
name of a quality of the chalk. 

6. Tell me some more names of the qualities of 
things, such as weight, beauty. 

7. Tell me some names of the qualities of persons : 
(a) good qualities or virtues, such as gentleness, 
honesty, justice, temperance; (b) bad qualities or 
vices, such as harshness, cruelty, dishonesty, injus- 
tice, intemperance, untruthfulness. 

8. Tell me some names of (a) the feelings of your 
body, such as hunger, (b) the feelings of your mind, 
such as joy, hope, pity. 

9. Tell me some names of actions ; such ^jump- 
ing, running, reading, counting, singing. 

Exercise II. 
Write or repeat six names of (1) actions ; (2) 
feelings of your mind ; (3) good qualities of persons ; 



Nouns. 3 

(4) bad qualities of persons ; (5) qualities of coal ; 
(6) ail*; (7) India-rubber; (8) snow; (9) paper; 
(10) hair; (11) steel; (12) water. 

10. How shall we call all these names? If we 
call them " names," people will think we mean none 
but names of persons ; but we mean names of places, 
of things, of faults, actions, etc., as well. So we 
will call them Nouns, which is another word for 
Names. ( x ) 

Exercise III. 

Point out the Nouns in — 

Some thoughtless boys were playing with stones 
near a pond. During their play they noticed a family 
of frogs and began to pelt them, not out of cruelty, 
for /they were not cruel, but out of thoughtlessness. 
Very soon they hit one of the frogs, and all the 
family at once dived down in a fright beneath the sur- 
face of the water. " This is fine fun," said the boys, 
" we will wait till they come up again, and then we 
will give them a good pelting." Just then the mother 
of the frogs popped up her hec A croaking so pitifully 
that the boys held their hand* 
" Young gentlemen," said s. 
gentle you will not continue 1 
you like it if a giant killed y — __ 
of sport? But that is what you have done to me ; 
you have killed my youngest daughter, and maimed 
my two sons for life. What is sport to you is death 
to us." 



4 The Parts of Speech. 

11. Sometimes you may be puzzled about Nouns. 
You may not see, for example, that pelting in the 
Exercise above is the name of an action, and so you 
may not know that it is a Noun. So here is a good 
way to find whether a word is a Noun or not, — 

12. If a word (sometimes with ' a ' or ' the ' 
before 'it') can come after "I like," or " dis- 
like, " to answer the question, " What do you 
like?" it is a Noun. ( 2 ) 

13. Thus you can say, " I like apples, Thomas, 
nothing, a walk, the country, jumping / " but you 
cannot say, " I like quickly;" so quickly is not a 
Noun. Of course, you must be careful to see how a 
word is used in the Exercise, before you say it is 
a Noun. For example, " playing" might sometimes 
be a Noun, as in "I like playing," but it is clearly 
not a Noun in the first line of the Exercise above, 
because it is not there used as a Name. 

How to make Nouns. 

14. Sometimes you can make Nouns out of other 
words that are not Nouns. For example, slow is 
not a Noun ; but you can make a Noun out of it, ■ — 
slowness. High is not a Noun ; but you can make 
a. Noun out of it, — height. 

Exercise IV. 
Make Nouns out of the following words : swift, 
broad, glad, long, deep, careless, narrow, wide, 
ready, obstinate, persevere, just, humble, pious, 
brave, repent. 



Nouns. 5 

* Kinds of Nouns. 

* 15. Look carefully at the first two Nouns in the 
following sentence : — 

" Charles is the oldest son of the family. " 

Charles and son, you see, are simply different 
names for the same person ; but they are also differ- 
ent hinds of names. 

(1) Charles is the name of a particular person, 
that is, of an individual. The name may be said to 
belong to Charles, to be peculiarly his own. Hence, 
it is called a Proper Noun. {Proper means 
4 one's own/ as m property, appropriate.) 

(2) Son is a name common to Charles and all his 
brothers ; indeed, to all boy-children. It is the name 
of every one of a class. Hence, it is called a Com- 
mon Noun. 

* 16. Tell the difference between (1) Helen, (2) 
girl; (1) London, (2) city; (1) Ponto, (2) dog; 

(1) Racer, (2) horse ; (1) Hudson, (2) river; (1) 
State-House, (2) building; (1) Post- Office, (2) 
house. 

Model. — (1) Helen is the name of a particular girl: it is 
her proper (her own) name. Therefore it is a Proper Noun. 

(2) Girl is the name, not only of Helen, but of all other girls : 
it is common to them all. Therefore it is a Common Noun. 

(i) A Proper Noun is a name peculiar or 
proper to an individual. 

(2) A Common Noun is a name common to 
a class. 



6 The Parts of Speech 

* 17. But the sentence has a third Noun, family. 
It means Charles and his brothers (and, perhaps, 
some other persons) taken together, spoken of as a 
group. Hence, it is called a Collective Noun. 
(Collective means c taken together.') 

* 18. Tell the difference between the Nouns in 
each of the following phrases : — 

(1) A bevy of girls ; (2) a pack of wolves ; (3) 
an army of ants ; (4) a herd of buffaloes ; (5) a 
flock of sheep; (6) a brood of chickens; (7) a 
clump of bushes ; (8) a bunch of grapes ; (9) a row 
of houses. 

(3) A Collective Noun is the name of a 
number of objects taken together, the name 
of a group. 

N.B. — An object is anything of which we can 
think, something thrown in the way of om minds. 

* 19. Once more, " Charles" is said to be " the 
oldest son " ; and oldest tells us of a quality of 
Charles's. [§ 5] What is its name? age? But when 
we give this quality a name, we think of it as ab- 
stracted (that is, taken away) from Charles. 
Hence, it is called an Abstract Noun. So, names 
of feelings [§ 8], of actions [§ 9], and of some other 
things, help us to think of the feelings, etc., as 
taken away from the persons who feel, act, etc. ; 
and they, too, are hence called Abstract Nouns. 

(4) An Abstract Noun is the name of a qual- 
ity, feeling, action, etc., thought of as ab- 



Nouns. 7 

stracted, or taken away, from the object to 
which it belongs. 

* 20. Tell the difference between the Nouns in 
each of the following sentences : — 

(1) The weight of the lead broke the scales. 

(2) George's anger required punishment. 

(3) The laughing of the knot of boys was heard in 
the school-roOm. 

(4) The ill-health of the master gave the school a 
holiday. 

* Exercise V. 

* Tell the kind of each Noun in Exercise III. and 
in — 

At the time of Braddock's defeat, an Indian chief 
named Pontiac had seen the red- coats running away 
before his own men. Being a man of great courage 
and skill, he laid a plan to unite all the tribes of his 
race, and to drive the English out of America. First 
he tried to take Detroit, which was then only a fort ; 
but he failed, and his conspiracy broke down. Soon 
after, he was murdered by another Indian in a 
drunken frolic. 

* Exercise VI. 
Write this story again in } r our own words, being 
careful to use some Nouns of each kind. 

21. A Noun is a name of any kind. ( 8 ) 

N.B. — A Noun is not a thing, but the name of a 
thing. A cow is not a Noun ; but the word u cow" 
is a Noun. 



CHAPTER II. 
PRONOUNS. 

22. It would take up a great deal of time and 
would be very confusing if, whenever we wished to 
speak of ourselves or other people or things, we were 
obliged to repeat the Noun each time. For exam- 
ple, if your name were John, and you were speaking 
to a second person named James, about a third per- 
son named Thomas, it would be inconvenient to say, 
"When John saw Thomas, Thomas told John that 
James said James was coming to see John." What 
will you say instead of this? Will you not sa} r , 
"When I saw Thomas, he told me that you said 
you were coming to see me " ? 

23. Again, take up a book. Tell me something 
about the book. You will not go on repeating " the 
book is heavy, the book belongs to me." What 
word will you use for ' the book ' ? Will it not be 
' it ' ? Or, if you are speaking about more books 
than one, you will not go on repeating the books. 
What word will you use instead? Will it not be 
' they ' or ' them ' ? 

24. You see, then, that these words J, you, he, 
etc., are used instead of or for nouns, and we 
therefore call them Pronouns {Pro means for or 
instead of). 

25. Words used for Nouns are called Pro- 
nouns. 



Pronouns. 9 

26. The Pronouns may be arranged as follows : — 

(1) Pronouns denoting the Person speaking : I, 
me, we, us, myself, ourselves. 

(2) Pronouns denoting the Person spoken to: 
you, yourself, yourselves / in Old English, thou, 
thee, thyself, ye, — forms still used in poetry and 
(once in a while) elsewhere. 

(3) Pronouns denoting (a) the Person spoken 
of: he, him, himself she, her, herself they, them, 
themselves, (b) The thing spoken of: it, itself, 
they, them, themselves. 

*27. These words are called -Persona? Pronouns, 
because 'person' once meant u an actor's part in a 
play," and these pronouns denote " the part played 
in conversation." They are (as arranged above) of 
the First, the Second or the Third Person. 

* 28. Personal Pronouns that end in -self or -selves 
are called Reflexive Pronouns, (Reflexive means 
'bent back'), because they refer to a person already 
named by another Pronoun; as in, " ./will do it 
myself," "he struck himself," " speak {you) for 
yourself" ( 4 ) 

Exercise VII. 

Put Pronouns for the italicized Nouns in the fol- 
lowing : — 

Once an ass dressed an ass in the skin of a lion. 
On seeing the ass thus disguised, all the beasts of 
the forest fled away in fear, thinking the ass to be a 
lion, and fearing that the ass would devour the 
beasts. The fox alone did not run away, but hid 
the fox behind a tree, to note what went on. When 



10 The Parts of Speech. 

the ass thought the ass was alone, the ass could not 
help braying with delight to see the beasts all so 
frightened at the ass. On this the sly fox stepped 
from behind the tree and said to the ass, " Now the 
fox has (have) found the ass out. If the ass had 
only kept quiet, every one would have taken the ass 
for a lion." 

Exercise VIII. 

Tell me what Nouns the italicized Pronouns are 
put for in the following Exercise : — 

Three bulls were fighting together in a field. 
When the lion saw them, he said, " Now I shall be 
able to kill them. Before, they were too strong for 
me, three against one; but now J will wait till the 
black bull has driven away his companions, and then, 
when he is alone, I shall easily conquer him first, 
and then the other two bulls." Then turning to the 
cub behind him, he said, u Come on, little one, you 
shall soon have a good dinner." 

Tell me what you and me are put for in the follow- 
ing : " One goat said to another, ' You must let me 
pass.'" What is you put for? Is it not ' the goat 
spoken to'? And what is me put for? Is it not 
' the goat speaking ' ? That will show you what Pro- 
nouns you must write for the ' speaking frog/ and 
4 the frog spoken to/ in the following Exercise. 

Exercise IX. 

Put Pronouns for the italicized Nouns in the fol- 
lowing : — 



Pronouns. 11 

Once upon a time a conceited frog saw a fine large 
cow in a green meadow. So the frog said to his 
companion, "Why should not the frogs (we) make 
the frogs as large as that beautiful animal ? Let the 
speaking frog try to puff the speaking frog out by 
swelling the speaking frog with breath. Then the 
speaking frog will (shall) be as large as the cow. 
Look now ! what does (do) the frog spoken to think? 
Is the cow 'much larger than the speaking frog is 
(am) ? " " Yes, much larger," replied the other frog. 
"Ah! but look now." "The cow is much larger 
still," replied the other. " The speaking frog will 
try once more," said the conceited creature ; and the 
frog gave one last puff, which made the frog burst. 

Exercise X. 

Tell me what Nouns the • Pronouns are put for in 
the 'following Exercise : — 

When the fox invited the stork to dinner, he set 
before her a shallow dish of soup. The fox ate of it 
greedil} T , for the dish suited his short nose. But the 
poor bird, dipping in the end of her long beak, could 
scarcely take up any of it, ' ' You do not take your 
soup," said the fox. " J fear you do not like it." 
Then he bade the servant bring some puddings. But 
when the puddings were brought, they also were all 
in shallow dishes, so that the poor stork could not 
enjoy them. So she went home hungiy and angry, 
and the fox enjoyed his joke ; but the stork punished 
him for it afterwards, as I shall show you another 
time. 



12 The Parts of Speech 

* Exercise XI. 

Fill the emptj^ places in the following story with 
Pronouns : — : 

Lina could not help smiling as — entered. Baby 
Tom, perched on a chair at the table, was holding 
her color-box on his hand, as — had seen — hold 
it, while — painted busily at what — did not at first 
see. Going to lift — down, Lina saw that — had 
been illuminating a sketch upon which — had especi- 
ally prided — , and which — had meant to elaborate 
into a picture. — could not scold the baby, but — 
turned angrily to Dick. " — think — might have 
stopped — , Dick," — said : " — knew how much — 
valued that sketch." 

N.B. — For other Pronouns see Chapter IX. 



CHAPTER III. 
ADJECTIVES. 

29. Suppose you have lost your pen r holder, and 
you come to me to ask whether I have found it. 

I hold up six pen-holders, and I ask you to distin- 
guish, that is to point out in words, your pen-holder 
from the others. How can you do this? 

30. You can do it by putting words to 'pen- 
holder.' These words will answer the following 
questions : — 

(1 .) " Which ? " You may distinguish your pen- 
holder by saying " I want this or that pen-holder," 
pointing while you speak. 

(2..) " Whose?" You may saj^ " I do not want 
his or her, or your pen-holder ; I want my or our 
pen-holder." ( 5 ) 

(3.) " Of what sort?" or "In what condi- 
tion?" You may say "I want the short or long 
pen-holder ; " "I want the clean or inky pen-holder." 

(4.) " In what order? " You may say " I want 
the first, second, third, next, last, furthest, nearest 
pen-holder." 

31. If I do not know how many pen-holders you 
have lost, then, before trying to distinguish your 
pen-holders, you must tell me : — 

(5.) " How many?" "I have lost one pen- 
holder, two, three, several, many, some, no pen- 
holders." 



14 The Parts of Speech. . 

32. If it is paper that you have lost, you will have 
to tell me not how many but : — 

(6.) " How much?" " I have lost more, some, 
no paper." 

33. Words that are put to Nouns to answer 
the questions — 1. " Which ? " 2. " Whose ? " 

3. u Of what sort ? " or " In what condition ? " 

4. "In what order?" 5. "How many?" 6. 
" How much ?" are called adjectives. 

34. The word " Adjective" means put to. ( 6 ) 

Exercise XII. 

Write or repeat some Adjectives to tell me what 
sort of a thing is — (1) sugar, (2) butter, (3) a lion, 

(4) paper, (5) coal, (6) water, (7) glass. 

Write or repeat some Adjectives to tell me in what 
condition maybe — (1) a knife, (2) a boy, (3) a 
book, (4) a garden. 

Make Nouns from these Adjectives, to tell the 
names of these qualities and conditions. 

Exercise XIII. 
Suppose you have lost a dog, or something else, 
and you want to describe it to a policeman in Adjec- 
tives so as to distinguish it from other dogs or things 
of the same kind ; write or repeat six adjectives 
about — (1) a dog, (2) a cat, (3) a ball, (4) a stick, 

(5) a cap, (6) a knife. 

You will find that most of these Adjectives carl 
have Nouns made out of them. Make Nouns where 
}'ou can. 



Adjectives. 15 

An Q, a, the. 

35. Again, suppose I ask you, " What have you 
lost?" You will not reply " pen-holder," you will 
say " a pen-holder" ; where a means " I don't say 
which pen-holder." 

36. Then, if I ask you when you used it last, I 
shall not say a but the : ' ' When did you last use the 
pen-holder?" The means " You know which pen- 
holder I mean." 

37. A and the, being put to Nouns to answer the 
question which? are called Adjectives. 

* 38. Another, and more usual, name for a and 
the is Article ; but we must never forget that these 
little words, though they have this special name 
(name of their own), are in no way different from 
other words that are put to Nouns to answer the 
question ivhich ? ( 8 ) 

39. The is sometimes called Definite, that is, 
"telling clearly"; a is called Indefinite, that is, 
u not telling clearly." * So that we have two Arti- 
cles, — the Definite Article, the, and the Indefinite 
Article, an or a. 

Exercise XI Y. 

(a) Supply some Adjectives, answering the ques- 
tion In what order? such as first, second, nearest, 
furthest, etc., in the following : — 

Some mice, being in great trouble owing to the 
persecutions of a cat, met together to determine 
what was to be done. They all spoke in order, 
according to age, and so the oldest mouse was the 
— to speak. But the mouse, poor thing, had no 



16 The Parts of Speech. 

advice to offer, and did nothing but lament. " Yes- 
terday," said she, " our cruel enemy devoured seven 
relations of mine, the day before ten ; this morning, 
already, two ; one more is wanted to make the — 
of my unfortunate family that has perished in her 
jaws." Here the youngest mouse, a hasty young 
creature, who ought to have been the — to speak, 
rudely interrupted: " The matter is very simple" 
cried he ; "we must tie a bell round the cat's neck 
so that we may hear her coming ; and see, this 
bell in my hand is the very thing. Let us go at 
once." " By all means," said the old mouse ; " but 
who shall lead the way? I will be the second ; but 
who will be the — ? " There were plenty of mice 
willing to be third or fourth, but none were willing 
to be — . So the bell was not hung on the cat's 
neck that day, nor the — day, nor the day after ; 
and it is not hung even now. 

(b) Write or repeat what the italicized words tell 
you, thus : — 

Some tells you how many " mice." 
Great tells you how much ' ; trouble." 
A means " I don't say which (' cat')." 
All tells you how many. 
Oldest tells you which " mouse." 
The means ' ' You know which (' mouse ') ," namely, 
the mouse just mentioned. 

Poor tells you what sort of a " thing." 

No tells 3'ou how much " advice." 

Our tells you whose " enemy." 

Answer the rest for yourself in the same way. 



Adjectives. 17 

Exercise XV. 

Write or repeat what the italicized Adjectives tell 
you in the following Exercises, also what the black 
Pronouns are put for : — 

An old man had several sons, who were very 
quarrelsome. Few days passed without a violent 
quarrel, and often they came to blows. One day 
when the young men were bringing some faggots 
home for firewood, the father called them round him. 
Speaking to the eldest, who was first in order, he 
bade him try to break a faggot ; he tried, but could 
not break it. Then turning to the next son, " See," 
said the old man, " whether you can break this fag- 
got." But neither the second ( 9 ) nor the third, nor 
the seventh (for there were seven sons) could man- 
age to break the faggot. Then the old man, undoing 
the, string that fastened the faggot, broke each stick 
separately. "If you keep together," said he, "no 
man will be able to hurt you ; but if you continue 
your foolish quarrels, your enemies will destroy you, 
just as I break these sticks." 

Exercise XVI. 

A lazy grasshopper sang and danced through the 
pleasant summer ; the industrious ant worked with 
all his might. When the cold winter came with its 
bitter winds, every blade of grass was covered b} T the 
deep snow, so that the poor grasshopper could find 
no food. In great distress she came to the door of 
the prudent ant, whom she found eating a good din- 
ner. " Give me some food," cried she, " or I shall 



18 The Parts of Speech, 

die during these three months of winter ( 10 ) weather." 
4 'Why, what did you do during the six months of 
summer and autumn ? " replied the unkind ant. " I 
sang," said the grasshopper. "Then dance now," 
said the ant. As the greedy fellow said these words, 
a big mole broke into his snxig house and overturned 
all his stores of food. 

Exercise XVII. 

An idle young chicken, watching some ducklings 
in a round pond, determined to try to swim like 
them. In vain her mother warned her she would 
be drowned. " My feet," said the chicken, " are as 
fit for swimming as the feet of this duckling by my 
side. See, he has jumped into the pond and has 
swum across. Why should not I swim as well as 
that duckling? I should like to taste those water- 
cresses yonder." Saying these words, the foolish 
creature jumped into the water ; but she soon found 
her dear mother's warning was true. Her struggles 
were useless, and in a short time she slowly sank 
down to the bottom and died. 

40. An Adjective is a word that can be put 
before a Noun, answering the question : — 

1. " Which ?"( n ) 

2. "Whose?" 

3. "Of what sort?" or "In what condi- 
tion?" 

4. " In what order ? " 

5. " How many ?" 

6. "How much?" 



Adjectives. 19 

41. You saw, at the beginning of this Chapter, 
that the first four classes of Adjectives can be used 
to distinguish. Hence you may briefly say that — 

42. An Adjective is a word that can be put 
before a Noun, either to distinguish it, or to 
point out its number or amount. 1 

43. Note — that an Adjective can stand before a 
Noun. It does not always, but it can always be 
made to. And in this way you can generally distin- 
guish Adjectives from words that are not Adjectives. 
For example, in " my father is good" you can put 
4 good' before ' father,' " my good father ; " so 
' good ' is an Adjective. But in " my father is well" 
you cannot put 6 well' before ' father' and say " my 
well father;" so 'well' is not an Adjective. No 
word is an Adjective if it can not be put before a 
Noun. 

Test of an Adjective. 

44. If you are in doubt whether a word is an Ad- 
jective or not, the following test may sometimes help 
you: — 

If a word can come between ' a ' or ' the ' 
and a Noun, it is an Adjective. 

■ 45. The principal exceptions to this test are, (1) 
Adjectives answering to the question whose ; such as 
my your, etc. ; (2) some that answer to the question 

1 More briefly, "An Adjective . . . Noun," to qualify its 
meaning. 



20 The Parts of Speech. 

how many, or how much; such as, none, no, both, 
all, any, some, many, more, most, another, several, 
each, every, either, neither. 

Exercise XVIII. 

Write or repeat what the italicized Adjectives tell 
you in the following Exercise, and also what the 
Pronouns are put for : — 

Some time ago I told you how the spiteful fox 
tricked the stork ; now I will tell you how the stork 
revenged herself on her cunning enemy. She 
waited till the fox had forgotten his trick, and then 
she sent him an invitation to dinner. When they 
sat down, there were six dishes on the table, but 
they were so narrow at their tops that the fox 
could not get his head into them. He tried each 
dish, but in vain. Meantime the stork dipped in 
her lo7ig bill and dined very pleasantly ; but the fox 
was silent and sullen. Presently he burst out " I 
do not like your dishes, Mrs. Stork." " Nor did I 
like your dishes, Mr. Fox." 

Exercise XIX. 
Pick out the Nouns in the above Exercises. 



CHAPTER IV. 
VERBS. 

46. Take any Noun, for example "John." Tell 
me something about John in one word. " John 
walks, sleeps, talks, runs." Here the word 'walks' 
makes a statement about John. 

47. Try to make a statement about John, using 
nothing but Nouns, or Pronouns, and Adjectives ; 
for example, "John a man," " John happy." You 
find you cannot do it ; Nouns and Adjectives cannot 
make a statement. But the words above, walks, 
sleeps, talks, etc., can make a statement, and may be 
called stating words. 

Exercise XX. 

Write or repeat some stating words after (1) 
" a dog — ," (2) " a soldier — ," (3) " a farmer — ," 
(4) "a bird — ," (5) "a horse—," (6) " the cat 
— ," (7) " the sea — ," (8) " the fire — ," (9) " the 
flower — ." 

48. Some of these stating words make a complete 
sense. For example, in " John walks," the sense is 
complete; but in "John strikes," you feel that the 
sense is incomplete, and you ask " strikes whom, or 
what ? " And in order that the sense may be com- 
plete, you need some Noun or Pronoun after ' strikes : ' 
" John strikes Thomas." 



22 The Parts of Speech. 

49. The word is is a stating word. In the words 
u God is" that is, " God exists," the sense is com- 
plete ; but usually the sense of is is incomplete, and 
after " John is — ," you have to ask " is what? " and 
you complete the sense by adding a Noun or Adjec- 
tive : " John is a boy," or u John is happy." 

Exercise XXI. 

(1) Write or repeat some complete stating words 
after the nine Nouns in the last Exercise. 

(2) Write or repeat some incomplete stating 
words after the nine Nouns in the last Exercise. 

50. Now take this sentence : (1) " Thomas struck 
John ; " how can you put " John " first, and yet keep 
the meaning the same? You will say, (2) "John 
was struck by Thomas." 

51. The word 'struck' in (1) is a stating word, 
and told you what John did ; the words ' was struck' 
in (2) tell you what was done to John. We there- 
fore take the two words together, and say that " was 
struck " is a stating word. 

Exercise XXII. 

Turn the following italicized words, which state 
what things did, into words that state what was 
done, keeping the sense as it is : — 

The gnat stung the sportsman ; the sportsman 
missed the pigeon ; the pigeon carried the letter ; 
the general received the message ; the message en- 
couraged the soldiers ; the soldiers gained the bat- 
tle ; the battle saved the country. 



Verbs. 23 

Exercise XXIII. 

Turn the following italicized words, that state what 
was done, into words that state what things did, 
keeping the sense as it is : — 

(1) The malt was eaten by the rat; the rat was 
killed by the cat ; the cat was worried hj the dog ; 
the dog was tossed by the cow. 

(2) The latch of a gate was broken by a boy ; the 
gate teas blown open by the wind ; the field was left 
by a cow ; the cow was run over by a train ; the 
train was overturned by the cow ; a little child was 
killed by the accident ; so a little child was killed by 
that mischievous boy. 

52. You see that sometimes the stating word has 
to be changed into two words. For example, above, 
c struck ' was changed into 6 was struck ; ' and we can 
also say "John will strike," u John has struck," 
Sometimes the stating words are three or even more 
in number : " he will be struck," " he has been strik- 
ing" " he has been struck," "he will have been met 
by this time." 

Exercise XXIV. 

i. Make statements in two stating words about 
(1) the sailor, (2) the colonel, (3) the corn, (4) the 
river, (5) the ship, (6) the marbles. 

ii. Make statements in three stating words after 
the same six Nouns. 

hi. Make statements telling what the sailor, colo- 
nel, etc., will do, and what will be done to them. 



24 The Parts of Speech. 

iv. Make statements telling what the sailor, colo- 
nel, etc., have done, and what has been done to 
them. 

v. Make statements telling what the sailor, colo- 
nel, etc., did, and what was done to them. 

vi. Make statements telling what the sailor, colo- 
nel, etc. were doing, and what has been done to 
them. 

53. So far, almost all our stating words have told 
us what John does, or what is done to John. But 
John is not always doing something, or having some- 
thing done to him. What happens to him beside 
doing? Does he not feel? or may he not be in a 
certain condition ? Hence we may say u John feels, 
perishes, starves, possesses, has." These stating 
words (like ' is') do not tell us what John does, but 
rather in what condition he is. 

54. Now, what name are we to give to these stat- 
ing words ? You see how important they are ; for 
without them we could not make a single statement. 
They are so important that the Latins used to call 
them VERBA, which meant THE WORDS. We 
still keep the name, or something like it, and so we 
call these words VERBS. 

55. Verbs are words that state. 

1. What anything does. 

2. What is done to anything. 

3. In what condition any- 
thing is. 



56. The statement 
may be ( 12 ) 



Verbs. 25 

57. If you are not sure whether a word is a Verb 
or not, ask yourself " Can I put 7", you, or he before 
it?" If you can, it ma} r be a Verb; if not, it is 
certainly not a Verb. Thus, you cannot say "I 
quickly" " he this; " and therefore 'quickly' and 
' this ' cannot possibly be Verbs ; but you can say 
"he rides" and therefore 'rides' may be ( 13 ) a 
Verb, provided that it makes a statement. 

How to tell parts of Verbs from Adjectives. 

58. When an Adjective or Noun follows the Verb 
'is,' for example, "John is happy" "John was a 
scholar ," you must not call ' happy' or ' a scholar' a 
Verb. But in John was taught ," " John is beaten" 
" John is beating ," you may say that was taught is 
all one Verb, and so is is beaten and is beating. 

59. How are you to tell when a word is an Adjec- 
tive, as "happy," and when it is part of a Verb, as 
"beaten"? The answer is, that "beaten" and 
"beating" clearly do not tell you what sort of a boy 
John is, nor in what condition he is ; therefore they 
are not Adjectives. But they help to state what 
John does or what is done to John. Therefore they 
are parts of Verbs. 

60. But in "a beaten hound dreads" the whip, 
beaten tells you what sort of hound you are speaking 
of, and therefore beaten is an Adjective. 

Exercise XXV. 

Write or repeat whether the italicized Verbs in 
the following Exercise tell j t ou — (1) what anything 



26 The Parts of Speech. 

does, or (2) what is done to anything, or (3) in what 
condition anything is. If you cannot tell this, write 
down simply that the Verb makes a statement about 
something : — 

An elephant passed ever}^ day by a tailor's win- 
dow. The tailor, taking notice of this elephant, 
became by degrees so fond of it that whenever it 
passed by, he always gave it some food. But one 
day he was so busy with his customers that he took 
no notice of the beast. The poor elephant felt sure 
that his friend had a bun ready for him as usual ; so 
for some minutes he remained quietly standing be- 
fore the open window. At last, he poked his trunk 
in. The busy tailor, in a pet because he was inter- 
rupted, said " So you want your food; do you? 
Here is your food, you insolent brute." So saying, 
he gave him a deep prick with his biggest needle. 
The elephant moved quietly away, but he came back 
again afterwards, as you will read in the next Exer- 
cise. 

Passed, states what " the elephant" did. 

Became, makes an incomplete statement about 
"the tailor." 

Gave, states (incompletely) what " the tailor" did. 

Was, makes an incomplete statement about " the 
tailor." 

Took, states (incompletely) what "the tailor" 
did. 

Answer the rest for yourself in the same way. 
You need not alwa} T s say that the statement is in- 
complete, unless specially told to do so. 



Verbs. 27 

Exercise XXVI. 

Write down or repeat what Nouns the underlined 
Pronouns in the above Exercise are put for. 

Exercise XXVII. 

Write down or repeat what the underlined Adjec- 
tives in the above Exercise tell you. 

* Kinds and Forms of Verbs. 

* 61. Verbs that make a complete sense [§48], 
are called Intransitive (' not going over ') ; those 
in which the sense is incomplete [§48], are called 
Transitive (' going over'). But a few Verbs, like 
'is' [§ 49], are Intransitive, though their mean- 
ing is incomplete. They denote (1). "being" (2) 
u becoming'' (* 14 ) 

* 6-2. Form (1) of § 50 is called the Active 
Form, or Active Voice ; form (2), the Passive 
Form, or Passive Voice. (* 15 ) 

* 63. The forms given in § 52, like many other 
Verb-forms, have names ; but their explanation 
belongs elsewhere. (* 16 ) 

Exercise XXVIII. 

Write or repeat what the italicized Verbs tell you, 
as in the last Exercise : — 

The elephant, on leaving the tailor, determined to 
revenge himself. Accordingly, next clay, before he 
came to the window, he collected some dirty water in 
his trunk, out of a muddy pool that ivas not far off. 



28 The Parts of Speech 

Meanwhile the tailor had forgotten how the elephant 
had been treated by him the day before ; so, when 
the beast approached, he held out a bun for him as 
usual. The cunning elephant raised his trunk, and 
pretended he was going to take the bun ; but when 
his trunk was close to the tailor, he discharged the 
muddy water full in the man's face. So the tailor 
was taught a good lesson. 

Exercise XXIX. 

Write or repeat what the underlined Pronouns are 
put for. 

,„ Exercise XXX. 

Write or repeat what the underlined adjectives tell 
you. 

* Exercise XXXI. 

Eewrite this story of the elephant and the tailor 
(Exercises XXV. and XXVIII.) in your own words, 
being careful to use some verbs of each kind and 
form found in this Chapter. 



CHAPTER V. 

HOW TO TELL THE PARTS OF 
SPEECH. 

64. Yorj cannot tell me anything without using 
Verbs and either Nouns or Pronouns. You will also 
find that in speaking you are continually using Ad- 
jectives. Verbs, Adjectives, and Nouns are there- 
fore parts of your speech ; and they are often called 
by that name — " Parts of Speech." 

60. When you see a number of words together, it 
is useful to be able to say what Part of Speech each 
word is, whether it is a Noun, or an Adjective, or 
what. It takes too much time to say over and over 
again, " Tell me what parts of speech these words 
are;" so we sa\^ instead, "Parse these words," 
where parse is the same as part. 

66. Whenever you have to parse words you should 
first ask, "What does the word do? what does it 
tell me ? " Then you will be able to find out what 
Part of Speech it is. 

67. Now what Part of Speech is 'rides'? Per- 
haps you say a Verb ; but in " We had some pleas- 
ant rides " it is not a Verb, but a Noun. 

68. Again, what Part of Speech is 'running'? 
Perhaps you say a Noun ; but in " Running water 
is good for trout " it is not a Noun, but an Adjec- 
tive. 



30 



The Parts of Speech. 



69. You see, then, that you cannot tell what Part 
of Speech any of my words is by itself; you must 
wait till I have shown you how I mean to use the 
word by completing my meaning. 

70. A group of words expressing a (1) statement, 
(2) question, or (3) command, is called a " Mean- 
ing" or Sentence: for example, (1) " He comes,". 
(2) "Will he come?" (3) "Come." 

71. A group of words not expressing a statement, 
question, or command, is called a "Saying" or 
Phrase, as " a good boy." 

72. A Phrase that includes a Sentence is called a 
Clause, as "if he comes." 



[Specimen.] 



Exercise 





What does the word do? 


The word 


does [ ] 


The 


Means "you know which boat I 




mean." (See page 15.) 


second 


Tells you in what order the boat 




comes. 


boat 


Is the name of a vessel. 


struck 


States what the boat did. 


a 


Means " I do not say which' 9 


rock. 


Is the name of something. 



Exercise XXXIII. 
Now parse the following sentence in the same 
way ( 14 ) : — 

" The third barge carried coals." 



How to Tell the Parts of Speech. 31 

73. Until you had Verbs, you could not make Sen- 
tences, and until you had Sentences, }^ou could not 
easily tell what words did, and until you could tell 
what words did, you could not tell what Parts of 
Speech they were. Now } r ou can do all this. 

74. Suppose you have to parse the following 
Sentence : — 

" The second boat struck a rock." 

75. First write the words down in a narrow col- 
umn on the left, then make a broad column to write 
down "what the word does" and another to write 
down what Part of Speech the word is : — 

XXXII. 



What Part of Speech 


is the word? 


Therefore it is a [ 




•] 


Therefore it is an Adjective. 






Therefore it is an Adjective. 






Therefore it is a Noun. 






Therefore it is a Verb. 






Therefore it is an Adjective. 


(See 


page 15.) 


Therefore it is a Noun. 







76, For the future, you may write down a Noun 
at once in the second column, without writing down 
anything in the first column ; and so you may write 
down a and the as Adjectives at once. But with 



32 



The Parts of Speech. 



other words you must continue to write down what 
the word does, before you write down what the 
word is. 



[Specimen.] 



Exercise 



Word. 


What the word does ? 


The 




pretty 


Tells you what sort of a thing the 




glow-worm is, and can come be- 




fore a Noun. 


glow-worm 
shines 




States what the glow-worm does. 


all 


Tells you how much, and can come 




before a Noun. 


night ; 
his 




Tells you whose, and can come be- 




fore a Noun. 


light 
is 




Makes an incomplete statement 




about " light." 


dim 


Tells you what sort of a light it is. 


next 


Tells you in what order, and can 




come before a Noun. 


day. 







78. In the above Exercise you have called ' his ' an 
Adjective, because it tells you whose, and can come 
before a Noun: but 'man's' in Exercise XXVIII. , 
page 28, at the end, tells you whose, and can come 
before a Noun, and yet we do not call it an Adjec- 



How to Tell the Parts of Speech. 33 

77. For example : " The pretty glow-worm shines 
all night ; his light is dim next day." 

XXXIV. 



What the word is. 



Adjective. 

Therefore it is an Adjective. 



Noun. 

Therefore it is a Verb. 

Therefore it is an Adjective. 

Noun. 

Therefore it is an Adjective. 

Noun. 
Verb. 

Therefore it is an Adjective. 
Therefore it is an Adjective. 

Noun 



tive. Why ? Because it is a form of the Noun 
' man.' ( 5 ) 

Exercise XXXV. 

Parse the italicized words in the following Exer- 
cise : — 



34 The Parts of Speech. 

Two goats met on a narrow bridge. It was only 
a plank, and beneath it roared a rapid torrent. 
One goat was black, the other goat was white. The 
black goat said to the white (goat) , ' I am in a 
hurry, make way for me ; ' bat the white goat an- 
swered, ' Are you in a hurry ? So am I. Make way 
for me.' So the black goat, which was the stronger 
(goat) of the two (goats), pushed his enemy over 
the bridge ; but the horns of the white goat had been 
entangled in the black goat's horns, so he was 
dragged over also, and both (goats) were drowned. 

* Exercise XXXVI. 

A Spartan general, who had broken the laws of his 
country, was to be tried for his life ; but his son, 
being intimate with the son of one of the kings of 
Sparta, determined to save him. So, he went to his 
friend and begged him to influence the king in his 
father's behalf. " Why," said the king's son, " you 
know I hardly dare look my father in the face, I am 
so afraid of him. Still, since you ask this favor 
of me, I will try my best for you." Accordingly, 
rising early next morning, he followed his father 
wherever he went, but was all day afraid to speak 
to him. The second day, he did the same thing, 
and for several days more ; till at length he found 
courage to make his petition. His father appeared 
to think that justice must be done, no matter who 
suffered ; but, before the trial came off, he persuaded 
the Senate that Sparta could ill afford to lose so 
clever a soldier, and the accused general was ac- 
quitted. 



How to Tell the Parts of Speech. 35 

Write out in parallel columns all the Nouns, the 
Pronouns, the Adjectives, and the Verbs you can 
find in this story. Thus, — 



Nouns. 


Pronouns. 


Adjectives. 


Verbs. 


General, 
Laws, 


Him, 

i, 


A, 

Spartan, 


Had broken, 
Was. 



Then re-write the story in your own way, using all 
these (and any other necessary) words. 



CHAPTER VI. 
ADVERBS. 

79. — (1) Tell me, with the help of a Verb, some- 
thing that you do : u I walk." 

80. This only tells me that you do something; 
now answer me these questions about your walk- 
ing:— 

1. How? 2. When? 3. Where? 

81. Each answer must be in one word : " I walk 
thus, twice, fast, slowly, late, early, here, there, 
abroad." 

82. Now tell me, with the help of a Verb, some- 
thing that was done to j^ou. Answer, "I was blamed." 

83. But, " How and when were you blamed?" 
"I was blamed much, justly, harshly, often, seldom, 
yesterday, to-day " 

84. — (2) Tell me, with the help of an Adjective 
and the Verb ' am,' in what condition you are. 
Answer, "I am comfortable." Tell me what sort 
of a person you are. Answer, " I am good." 

85. But, (1) " How good or comfortable are 
you ? " (2) " When are you good or comfortable ? " 
Answer, (1) "I am very, quite, comfortable, rather 



Adverbs. 



37 



comfortable, pretty comfortable, more or less com- 
fortable;" (2) "I am often, sometimes, never, 
always good." 

86. — (3) You have said " I am often good." 

87. But, "How often?" Answer by putting a 
word before 4 often:' "I am not often, very often, 
rather often, less often, more often good." 

88. Again, you have said "I am more comfort- 
able." 

89. But, " How much more?" "I am much 
more comfortable, no more, far more comfortable." 



Exercise XXXVII. 

Write or repeat some words to tell me how, vihen, 
and where — 

1. The ship sails. 2. The boy will come. 3. The 
dog barks. 4. The train started. 5. The boy eats. 
6. The rain fell. 7. The soldiers fought. 8. The 
child answered his father. 

90. In order to do this Exercise you may make 
three columns thus : — 





How? 


When? 


Where ? 


The ship sails. 
The boy will come. 
The dog barks. 
The train started. 
The sailor goes. 
The rain fell. 


Smoothly. 

Slowly. 

Savagely. 

Slowly. 

Gladly. 

Unceasingly. 


Soon. 

To-day. 

Early. 

Yesterday. 

Now. 

Afterwards. 


There. 

Here. 

Everywhere. 

There. 

Aboard. 

Abroad. 



38 The Parts of Speech 



Exercise XXXVIII. 

Write or repeat some words to tell me how, when, 
and where: — 

1. The corn grows. 2. The boy will work. 3. 
The cat chases the mice. 4. The boy struck his 
schoolfellow. 5. The bell rang. 6. The fire burns. 
7. The gunpowder exploded. 

Write or repeat some words to tell me how 
much: — 

1. He was pleased. 2. I was happy. 3. I was 
successful. 4. I was happier than before. 5. She 
was amused. 

Write or repeat some words to tell me how 
often : — 

1. He was married. 2. He was taken prisoner. 
3. He was noisy. 

91. All these words that you have been repeating 
are generally joined to Verbs to tell us how, when, 
or where something is done. They are therefore 
called Adverbs, which means ' to- Verbs/ 

92. A word that answers to the question 
how ? ( 15 ) when ? or where ? is an Adverb. 

93. Remember, the answer must be in one word; 
else it is not an Adverb. 'Abroad' is an Adverb, 
but ' at home ' contains two words, one of which, as 



Adverbs. 39 

you will see soon, is not called an Adverb. ' Twice' 
is an Adverb, but 'three times' is not. 'Aboard' 
is an Adverb, but ' on board' is an Adverbial Phrase. 
(See pages 58-61.) 

94. Note that Adverbs can be used with Adjec- 
tives and Adverbs as well as with Verbs. ( 16 ) For 
example : — 

He was much (") pleased j Adyerb ^ Verb 
by your conduct. J 

This is a very (") pleasing j Adyerb ^ Adjective . 
book. ) 

This is too often true. [ Adverb with Adverb. 



Not. 

95. JSFot was once spelt 4 no-whit,' which is the 
same as i not a jot,' 4 not at all ; ' so not is an Ad- 
verb, for it answers to the question how much? 
For example, in " I will not help you," the question 
may be put, "How much will you help him?" and 
the answer is " I will help him not at all, or no-whit" 
i. e. " I will not help him." 

96. In parsing a Verb with ' not' in the middle of 
it, be careful not to call ' not' a part of the Verb. 
For example, in "I will not help him," the stating 
word or Verb is " I will help : " ' not' is the Adverb 
denying the statement. You may say that " I will 
help " states what you will (not) do. 



40 The Parts of Speech. 

Exercise XXXIX. 

Separate the Adverbs from the italicized Verbs in 
the following Exercise : — 

A fox that had once lost his tail in a trap was not 
pleased that his companions should have tails while 
he was taiMess. So he called them all together and 
said, " Look at me, I am not burdened as you are 
with a long bushy mass that serves no purpose ex- 
cept to clean the ground behind you. You will never 
beat me in a race as long as you bear this burden, 
and I do not bear it. If you are wise, you will no 
longer wear these useless weights ; and I can show 
3^011 how to cut them off in a moment." The younger 
foxes listened admiringly, and were all of them 
ready to cut off their tails. But a wise old fox got 
up and said, " That is all very well, Mr. Tail-less ; 
but you have not yet told us how you came to cut off 
your tail, and I will frankly confess I greatly sus- 
pect a trap had something to do with it. At all 
events, you did not find out that a tail so encum- 
bered you while you had a tail, and I shall always 
believe that, if ever your tail grows again, you will 
not cut it off." 

Exercise XL. 

Write or repeat what the italicized Verbs in the 
above Exercise state, and what question the Adverbs 
answer. For example : — 

Am burdened states in what condition the fox is 
(not). 



Adverbs. 41 

Not tells you how much he is burdened. 

Shall believe states what the old fox will do. 

Have told states what the tail-less fox had (not) 
done. 

Yet tells jo\x when, or up to what time the tail- 
less fox " had not told how he came, etc." 

Always tells }^ou when or hoio long the old fox 
will believe. 

Answer the rest for yourself in the same way. 

Exercise XLI. 

Pick out the Nouns above, and write or repeat 
what the Adjectives tell you, and what Nouns the 
Pronouns are put for. 

Exercise XLII. [Specimen.] 

Parse the italicized words in the following Exer- 
cise : — 

Once a boy, wandering in the woods by night, 
found a glow-worm ; it shone so beautifully that he 
took it to his home. Next day he looked at it, but 
in vain. Its brightness had quite disappeared. 



42 



The Parts of Speech. 



Word. 


What the word does. 


Once 


Tells you when the boy found the 




glow-worm. 


found 


States what the boy did. 


it 


Is put /or the glow-worm. 


shone 


States what it (the glow-worm) did. 


so 


Tells you how beautifully. 


beautifully 


Tells you how it shone. 


his 


Tells you whose home, and can 




come before a Noun. 


Next 


Tells you which day, and can come 




before the Noun. 


he 


Is put for the boy. 


its 


Tells you whose, and can come be- 




fore a Noun. 


quite 


Tells you how much or how far it 




had disappeared. 



Adverbs with Verbs omitted. 



97. Now take this sentence, "I am ten years 
old." Strictly speaking, we ought not to be able to 
add any Adverb here ; for, if a person knows that 
you are ten years old, he need not ask any question 
about your age. But boys often say "I am ten 
years old " when they mean they are a little more or 
less than ten years old. Consequently, when a boy 
says, "I am ten years old," the question arises 
"how far is that true?" So we ask, "Are you 
exactly, or precisely, or just ten?" Or else, "Are 



Adverbs. 43 



What the word is. 


Therefore it 


is an Adverb. 


Therefore it 


is a Verb. 


Therefore it 


is a Pronoun. 


Therefore it 


is a Verb. 


Therefore it 


is an Adverb. 


Therefore it 


is an Adverb. 


Therefore it 


is an Adjective. 


Therefore it 


is an Adjective. 


Therefore it 


is a Pronoun. 


Therefore it 


is an Adjective. 


Therefore it 


is an Adverb. 



you only, or nearly, or almost ten?" Or else, 
"Are you quite or fully ten?" And of course a 
boy may use any one of these Adverbs in his reply. 
So you see : — 

98. An Adverb sometimes answers to the 
question " How far is this true ? " 

Exercise XLIII. 

Insert some Adverbs, such as the above, in the 
following sentences : — 



44 The Parts of Speech. 

1. 1 am — ten years old. 2. He was — late to- 
day. 3. The train started — at ten o'clock. 4. I 
— fell; but Thomas caught me before I fell. 5. I 
am — certain that you are wrong. 6. But I am — 
certain that I am right. 

99. This explains the use of such Adverbs as per- 
haps , undoubtedly, in " Perhaps, undoubtedly, cer- 
tainly, assuredly, possibly , probably , he will come." 
Perhaps does not tell you how he will come, but it 
tells you "how far it is true that he will come." 
Others indicate possibility or probability, "he will 
possibly, probably come." 

100. Many of these Adverbs are added to call ( 18 ) 
attention to what you say; for example, "he will 
really, certainly, verily, truly, positively, indeed, 
actually come." 

Exercise XLIV. 

Insert Adverbs expressing possibility, probability, 
or certainty, in the following sentences : — 

1. He will — come, but it is not certain. 2. — 
he could not have heard you, else he would have 
answered. 3. — he did not hear me, but I fear he 
did. 4. He said he should — come : so I assured 
my friends that he would be present. 5. He may — 
have seen you ; but if he had, a civil boy, as he is, 
would — have tried to help j^ou. 

Insert Adverbs, to call attention to what you say, 
in the following sentences : — 



Adverbs. 45 

6. I am surprised at you, I am — . 7. — you 
will compel me to punish } T ou. 8. The king will — 
be present himself, instead of sending his son. 9. I 
am — disgusted by such conduct. 10. Did he — 
say this ? 

Adverbs used in Questions. ( 19 ) 

101. The words how? when? where? and why? 
are themselves called Adverbs, as well as their an- 
swers, so, thus ; then ; there; therefore. 

102. The following Adverbs may also be remem- 
bered: whither? whence? hither, thither, hence, 
thence. Insert some of these and other Adverbs of 
rest or motion in the following sentences : — 

Exercise XLV. 

1. — do you live now? I live in London ; I have 
always lived — . 2. Will } T ou begin in this manner? 
or — will you begin ? I shall begin — . 3. Is this 
train coming from Derby, or — is it coming? 4. Is 
this train going to Derby, or — is it going? 5, Did 
he say this yesterday, or — did he say it? 6. — do 
you behave so badly? 7. The train is coming — 
and not from Derby. 



46 



The Parts of Speech. 



Exercise XL VI. [Specimen.] 

Parse the italicized words in the following Exer- 
cise : — 

" Why are you spoiling my water?" said the 
wolf savagely to the lamb. The wolf was drinking 
at the higher part of the stream, and the lamb some 
way below, so that the wolf was quite wrong ; for the 
water went from the wolf down to the lamb, and 
could not come bach to the wolf. So the lamb 
quietly replied " How can I spoil your water? It 



Word. 


What the word does. 


Why 


Asks " why are you spoiling?" 


are spoiling 


States what the lamb was doing 




(as the wolf said). 


savagely 


Tells you how the wolf spoke. 


was drinking 


States what the wolf was doing. 


below 


Tells you where the lamb was drink- 




ing. 


quite 


Tells you how far the wolf was 




wrong. 


went 


States what the water did. 


down 


Tells you where the water ran. 


back 


Tells you where the water could 




not run. 


quietly 


Tells you how the lamb replied. 


How 


Asks u how can I spoil?" 



Adverts. 47 

comes from you to me." " Perhaps you are right," 
replied the wolf more savagely than before, "but 
why did you abuse me and call me a murderer?" 
"I never did," said the lamb. "Yes ( 20 ), last 
year," said the wolf. "I was not born then" an- 
swered the trembling lamb. "Ah," replied the 
wolf, determined to pick a quarrel ; " I remember, it 
was your father ; certainly he abused me last July." 
" But my father died early in the spring," said the 
lamb. "Then it was your grandfather or great- 
grandfather;" and at once he fell on the helpless 
creature and tore her in pieces. 



What the word is. 


Therefore it 


is an Adverb. 


Therefore it 


is a Verb. 


Therefore it 


is an Adverb. 


Therefore it 


is a Verb. 


Therefore it 


is an Adverb. 


Therefore it 


is an Adverb. 


Therefore it 


is a Verb. 


Therefore it 


is an Adverb. 


Therefore it 


is an Adverb. 


Therefore it 


is an Adverb. 


Therefore it 


is an Adverb. 



48 



The Parts of Speech. 



Word. 


What the word does. 


your 


Tells you whose water, and can 




come before a Noun. 


It 


Is put for the water. 


Perhaps 


Answers to the question ' how far 




is it true ? ' 


more 


Tells you how savagely. 


savagely 


Tells you how the wolf screamed. 


never 


Tells you when the lamb abused 




the wolf. 


then 


Tells you tohen the lamb was not 




born. 


certainly 


Answers to the question ' how far 




is it true ? ' 


early 


Tells you when the lamb's father 




died. 


at once 


Tells you (in two words) when the 




wolf tore the lamb. 



Exercise XLVII. 

Parse the italicized words in the following Exer- 
cise : — 

A lazy fellow going out one fine morning in 
March saw a swallow. " Summer is coming at 
once? said he, " Zcan sell my great-coat now, for 
I shall not want it again this year*. Perhaps I 



Adverbs. 49 



What the word is. 


Therefore it is 


an Adjective. 


Therefore it is 


a Pronoun. 


Therefore it is 


an Adverb. 


Therefore it is 


an Adverb. 


Therefore it is 


an Adverb. 


Therefore it is 


an Adverb. 


Therefore it is 


an Adverb. 


Therefore it is 


an Adverb. 


Therefore it is 


an Adverb. 


Therefore it is 


an Adverbial * Phrase. 



shall get fifteen shillings for it, and I can live on 
them for two days without working." Next week 
there came a bitter frost, and the spendthrift wished 
too late that he had never sold his great-coat. Shiv- 
ering with cold he came to the place where he had 
seen the swallow ftying : there it lay stiff and dead. 
"Ah!" said the man, "why did I believe you? 
Now I see one swallow does not make a summer" 

1 See pages 39 and 61. 



CHAPTER VII. 
PREPOSITIONS. 

103. Suppose a friend writes to you asking (1) 
" Where are you living now? " or (2) " Whither are 
you moving?" The Adverbs (1) here, (2) hither, 
are not answer enough. What must you write 
back? 

104. — (1.) If you are at rest, living in one place, 
you may answer, " I am in England, near London, 
by the Thames." 

105. — (2.) If you are in motion, you may answer, 
"I am just now moving into London, from the 
country, across tW Thames." 

106. What have you been using instead of the 
Adverbs here, hither? You have been using a 
Noun and a word placed before the Noun, for exam- 
ple, ' in England.' These words thus placed before 
Nouns are called Prepositions. (Pre- means be- 
fore, posit- means placed.) 

Prepositions of Rest. 

107. Now look at this ruler. I am going to move 
it about, and I shall ask you where it is. Do not 
answer there, for that tells nobody anything. But 
answer thus : I shall mention some Noun or Pro- 
noun, for example, 'head,' 'hand,' or 'me,' and 



Prepositions. 



51 



you shall tell me where the ruler is, by putting one 
of these Prepositions before the Noun or Pronoun 
that I call out. 

108. See, I place it : — ( 21 ) 

Above my ' head.' Amid or among some 

Across or athwart my other ' books.' 

' knee.' At my ' side.' 

109. Now I take two or three books or other 
things, and scatter them about the ' desk ' or place 
them around my 'pen-holder.' Then I take the 
ruler again and place it : — 



Before my ' face.' 
Behind my ' back.' 
Below or beneath my 

' seat.' 
Beside, another 'ruler.' 
Between or betwixt my 

' hands.' 
Beyond the ' desk.' 
By my ' side.' 
( 22 ) Close to my * breast.' 
In or inside the ' desk.' 
Instead o/*, i. e. in the 

place of some other 

> ruler.' 



( 23 ) Near my left 'hand.' 
( 23 ) Next another 'book.' 
On my ' head.' 
Opposite my ' eyes.' 
Outside the ' desk.' 
Over my ' head.' 
Bound (see Around). 
Tinder my ' seat.' 
With some other ' rulers.' 
Within the ' desk.' 
Without ( 24 ) the ' desk.' 



Prepositions of Motion. 

110. So far, the ruler has been at rest when it has 
been once placed anywhere. But now I take the 



52 The Parts of Speech. 

ruler and a book, and set them in motion, making 
them as it were walk along the desk, so that the ruler 
will move : — 

After the "book." 

111. Then I move the ruler ; — 

Along the ' desk.' Past a ' slate.' 

Down the slope of the Through my ' finger and 

1 desk.' thumb.' 

From my ' face.' 2 To the ' desk.' 

Into the 6 desk.' Toward nry ' face.' 

Of the ' desk.' Up the slope of the ' desk.' 
1 Out of the ' desk.' 

Exercise XLVIII. 

(1) A giant, coming into his castle, smells Jack 
the giant-killer hidden somewhere, and asks his cook, 
"Is he inside the cupboard?" etc. Make-up six 
more similar questions, each one with a Preposition, 

"Is he ?" (2) u Which way did the mouse 

run ? " Make up six answers, each one with a Prepo- 
sition. (3) " Whither are you walking ? " Six an- 
swers. (4) "Whither, whence, and where does the 
Thames flow?" Four answers. 

How to Parse a Preposition. 

112. A Preposition, for example, "on" in "He 
rode on a donkey," is parsed thus : — 

1 Strictly out is now an Adverb, and of is a Preposition. 

2 To, when coming before a Verb, as l to walk,' is often called 
part of the Verb, and not a Preposition. (See p. 106.) 



Prepositions. 53 

"On" comes before 'donkey;' and it is not a 
Verb (see page 54) , therefore it is a Preposition. 

113. But remember, if the Preposition to precedes 
a Verb (as in " you ought to carry") " to carry" is 
treated as one Verb, to being called a part of the 
Verb. 

114. Notice that sometimes the Preposition may 
have some Adjectives between it and its Noun, for 
example, "on one poor little donkey;" but you 
must ask yourself " on what?" and the answer will 
be not u on one " nor " on poor," but u on a donkey" 

115. Before doing the next Exercise, you ought 
to be reminded that a Verb can express a question 
or command, as well as a statement. 

116. Such Verbs may be parsed thus : — 

Do put (4th line below), expresses a question: 
therefore it is a Verb. 

Look (18th line), expresses a command: there- 
fore it is a Verb. 

Exercise XLIX. 

Parse the italicized words in the following : — 

An old man teas once riding to market on a 
donkey. His son was walking by his side. " You 
are a lazy fellow" said the first stranger that met 
them: " Why do you not put the boy on the don- 
key?" The old, man got down from the donkey 
and set the boy in his place ; but before they had 
gone many yards, another stranger cried out, 
" What a shameful thing/ That strong young 



54 The Parts of Speech. 

fellow is riding, while this old man is on his legs. 
Get down, young man." So, the old man took his 
son off the donkey, and all three icctlked, man, boy, 
and donkey. As they passed through the next vil- 
lage, all the villagers laughed at them and shouted, 
"Why do you not both ?nount on the donkey?" 
When they heard this, they both got up, the old man 
before, and the young man behind him. But when 
they had come outside the village and a little way 
beyond it, two travellers shouted at them, " Look at 
those two big strong fellows on one poor little 
donkey ! They ought to carry the donkey, for cer- 
tainly the donkey cannot carry them." Again the 
old man got off, and with great difficulty they fast- 
ened the donkey to a stout pole, and thus carried 
him between them on their shoidders. But in the 
next village the people ran out to see the ridiculous 
sight, and the laughter was louder than ever. Then 
the young man said to his father, " Had we not 
better try to please ourselves, for it seems impossible 
to please everybody." 

How to tell a Preposition. 

117. There are many other ( 25 ) Prepositions be- 
side those mentioned above ; but jo\x can always tell 
a Preposition in this way : it can take ; them' after it, 
for example, " after them," " of them," " concern- 
ing them." An Adjective, Adverb, or Noun cannot 
take ' them ' after it. 

118. But a Verb can: " I like them." True, but 
a Verb can take ' 1/ ' he,' etc. before it, while a 



Prepositions. 55 

Preposition cannot. You can say "from them," 
but not " he fronts them." So remember : — 

119. A Preposition can take 'them' after it, 
but not ' he ' or * I ' before it. 

How Prepositions are used. 

120. — (1) What does ' of the horse ' tell us in 
"the swiftness of the* horse," or what does ' with 
the long tail ' tell us in " the monkey with the long 
tail?" Here " of the horse" tells us whose ' swift- 
ness ' is meant, or helps us to distinguish ' swift- 
ness ; ' and ' ' with the long tail " points out ivhich 
or what sort of c monkey.' You might have used an 
Adjective, if you had liked, in the last sentence, and 
might have said, " the long-tailed monkey." So, 
you see, the Preposition and the Noun together are 
much the same as an Adjective. 

121. — (2) Again what do the Prepositions and 
their Nouns tell us in " He travelled in haste, with 
speed, for me, for the sake of because of or oioing 
to, his brother, like his brother, on Monday, during 
six days, till Tuesday, since Wednesday?" They 
answer one of the questions how ? when ? how long ? 
why? etc. In other words, the Preposition and 
the Noun together are sometimes much the same as 
an Adverb. 

122. Prepositions consisting of two or more words 
may be called Compound Prepositions. 



56 The Parts of Speech. 



Exercise L. 

l . Some one comes into the room to ask for a boy. 
I ask him, " Which boy?" Make up ten answers, 
not with Adjectives alone, but with Prepositions and 
Nouns, such as u the boy with red hair," " the boy 
on the last desk," etc. 2. " Which of those dogs do 
you like best ? " Make up ten answers with Prepo- 
sitions and Nouns, such as u the dog in the kennel," 
etc. 3. " How long did you remain in the country ? " 
Make up three answers, not with Adverbs, but with 
Prepositions, such as, for, during, throughout, etc. 
4. " Why did you come back?" Make up three 
answers with Prepositions, such as, owing to, because 
of, on account of, etc. 5. " How did you travel?" 
Three answers. 

123. You see, then, that a Preposition with its 
Noun may answer the following questions answered 
by Adjectives: — 



1. 


Which? 


" The pen in my hand." y 




2. 


Whose? 


"The skin of the lion." 




3. 


(a) Ofiohat sort? 


" A man of honor " 


> 


3. 


(b) In what con- 


" A woman in sorrow" 






dition ? 




< 


4. 


In what order ? 


"The boy at the top." , 





124. A Preposition with its Noun may also answer 
the following questions answered by Adverbs : — 







Prepositions. 


1. 


How did 


you "On horse-back, with ' 


2. 

3. 


travel ? 
When? 
Where f 


speed." 
" On Monday." 
" In Yorkshire." 


4. 


Why? 


" Uecause of my 
brother's illness." J 



57 






125. Consequently the following definition may be 
given of a Preposition : — 

126. A preposition is a word that can be 
placed before a Noun or Pronoun, so that the 
Preposition and Noun or Pronoun together 
can make up an Adjective-phrase or an Ad- 
verb-phrase. 1 

Prepositions are sometimes used as Adverbs. 

127. In "he lives up on the' hill, but I live dozen 
in the valley," ' up ' and ' down' answer the question 
rohere? and do not come before Nouns. They are 
therefore not Prepositions, but Adverbs. 

128. But, in "he ran down the hill, and I ran up 
the hill," 6 down ' and c up ' make you ask, i up 
what?' ' doicn what? ' : and they come before ' hill,' 
which supplies the answer to the questions. They 
are therefore Prepositions here, and not Adverbs. 

Prepositions are sometimes used as parts of 
other words. 

129. — (1) In " the horse knocked down a child," 
or " a woman picked up the child," you cannot sep- 

1 For the usual Definition, see Note 25*. See also Preface, p. viii. 



58 The Parts of Speech. 

arate down from knocked, and say ' down what?' as 
3 t ou can in " he ran down the hill ; " knocked down 
makes one Verb, and so does picked up. Conse- 
quently, down and up are not Prepositions here, but 
parts of the Compound Verbs knock doivn said pick 
up. 

130. — (2) When a Preposition is irregularly used 
before an Adjective or an Adverb, as in the Adver- 
bial Phrases i at first,' Hn vain,' 'for once,' } T ou may 
parse the two words together as an Adverbial Phrase. 
(Seep. 61.) 

Exercise LI. [Specimen.] 

Parse the italicized words in the following Exer- 
cise : — 

The hare scoffed at the tortoise for his slowness, 
and challenged him to a race. "Let us run," said 
she, "up to yonder rock, and you shall have a start 
of half a mile." " Done," said the tortoise, and off 
he plodded. The hare sat down to watch him and 
laughed till her sides ached. At last, tired with 



Word. 


What the word does. 


at 


Comes before ' tortoise.' 


for 


Comes before ' slowness.' 


up 


Tells you where they were to race. 


to 


Comes before ' rock.' 


shall have 


Makes a statement about ' you.' 


off 


Tells you which way he plodded. 



Prepositions. 59 

laughing, she fell asleep. Meantime, the tortoise 
had crept up the hill and was steadily approaching 
the goal. Now, too late, the hare awoke from her 
sleep, and dashed after him with all her speed : and 
indeed, — so swift was she — she nearly caught him 
up. But, before she had reached the top, the tor- 
toise had crept down the hill, and was up on the 
rock, waiting for the prize. 

131. Before doing this Exercise, note the curious 
word ' asleep' in the seventh line : " she fell asleep.' 9 

132. 'A-sleep' used to be spelt 'on sleep/ like 
' a-ground,' c on board ' or ' a-board.' It does not 
exactly tell you how the hare ' fell,' but rather into 
ichat state the hare fell or came. It is an Adverb. 
You can see this in " I lay asleep." Asleep is put 
for Von sleep.' In the Bible we find "he fell on 
sleep." Sometimes you might suppose that ' asleep ' 
and * awake' are Adjectives; for example, in " He 
is asleep or awake" because here the words seem 
to tell you in what condition he is. But neither 
c asleep ' nor ' awake ' can come before a Noun ; 
therefore neither of them is an Adjective. 



What the word is. 



Therefore it is a Preposition. 
Therefore it is a Preposition. 
Therefore it is an Adverb. 
Therefore it is a Preposition. 
Therefore it is a Verb. 
Therefore it is an Adverb. 



60 



The Parts of Speech. 



Word. 


What the word does. 


sat down 


States what the hare did. 




him 


Is put for ' the tortoise.' 




her 


Tells you whose sides. 




At last 


Tells you when; but it is 
words. 


in two 


with 


Comes before ' laughing.' 




asleep 


Is iputfor ' on sleep,' and ii 
word. 


; is one 


Meantime 


Tells you when. 




up 


Comes before i the hill/ 




was ap- 


States what the tortoise was 


doing. 


proaching 






Now 


Tells you ichen. 




too 


Tells you how late. 




late 


Tells you when. 




after 


Comes before ' tortoise.' 




caught up 


States what the hare nearly 


did. 


down 


Comes before 4 the hill.' 




up 


Tells you where the tortoise 


was. 


for 


Comes before ' prize.' 





133. Notice how Prepositions and Nouns may 
gradually become Adverbs : — 

(1) " I go on-myfeet." Ordinary Adverbial 
Phrase. 

(2) " I go on foot." Condensed Adverbial Phrase. 

(3) "I go afoot." Adverb. 



Prepositions. 



61 



What the word is. 



Therefore 
Therefore 
Therefore 
Therefore 

Therefore 
Therefore 

Therefore 
Therefore 
Therefore 

Therefore 
Therefore 
Therefore 
Therefore 
Therefore 
Therefore 
Therefore 
Therefore 



it is 



is a Verb, 
is a Pronoun, 
is an Adjective. 

an Adverbial Phrase. 



a Preposition, 
an Adverb. 



is an Adverb, 
is a Preposition, 
a Verb. 



it is 



it is an Adverb, 
it is an Adverb, 
it is an Adverb, 
it is a Preposition, 
it is a Verb, 
it is a Preposition, 
it is an Adverb, 
it is a Preposition. 



134. An Adverbial Phrase is a group of words 
that answers one of the questions how, when, where, 
why. 

135. Wherever you can separate a Preposition 
from a Verb, as in i scoff at,' above, you should do 
so. You can ask " At what?" Answer "a tor- 
toise." Therefore at is a Preposition. 



62 The Parts of Speech. 

Exercise LII. 

Parse the italicized words in — 

A respectable country-mouse once invited a fash- 
ionable young town-mouse to supper. But the town- 
mouse ate nothing. In vain the country-mouse 
spread out her store of peas and her dainty scraps 
of bacon; nothing could please her guest. At last 
she begged the town-mouse to tell her what he liked. 
He mentioned at once a thousand dishes quite new 
to the country -mouse. She confessed with shame 
she had not heard of them. But the town ( 10 ) mouse 
consoled her. " Come to my home in the city" said 
he. " There you shall taste these good things? At 
once the country-mouse shut up her house and went 
back with her fashionable friend to the rich city. 
But what happened there I will tell you in Exercise 
LXII. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CONJUNCTIONS. 

136. Suppose } t ou are punished for being late at 
school. You want to explain to your parents why 
you were punished, and you begin, " I was punished 
— ; " how can you go on so as to explain why ? 
You might use two sentences and say " I was pun- 
ished. I was late ; " but it will be much better to 
join those two sentences together with the word be- 
cause, and to say, "I was punished because I was 
late." 

Exercise -LIII. 

Insert joining words, such as i because,' ' since,' 
' as,' ' though,' between the following sentences : — 

1. Harry knocked Tom down — Tom tried to kick 
him. 2. The willow was bending — The wind was 
blowing. 3. I will go away — You do not want me. 
4. The powder exploded — The soldier dropped the 
match. 5. The tortoise beat the hare — The hare 
was the swifter of the two. 6. The tortoise beat the 
hare — The tortoise was the steadier of the two. 

Exercise LIV. 

Insert joining words, such as ' when,' ' before,' 
4 after,' ' while,' between the following sentences : — 



64 The Parts of Speech 

1. William Rufus reigned — William the Con- 
queror died. 2. We saw the lightning — We heard 
the thunder. 3. The riflemen fired — The bugle 
sounded. 4. The steed starves — The grass grows. 

Exercise LV. 

Insert joining words, such as 'if,' 'unless/ 
' though/ between the following sentences : — 

1. You will be poor — You are idle. 2. You will 
not be respected — You are truthful. 3. The grass- 
hopper would not have starved in winter — She had 
not been lazy all the summer. 4. I am not afraid 
— You threaten me. 

137. All these words might be called 'joiners,' 
but they are called c Conjunctions/ which word 
means much the same thing. A ' junction ' is the 
name given to a place where two railways are joined; 
and in the same way a Conjunction is the name 
given to a word that conjoins or joins together {con- 
means together) two sentences. 

138. A Conjunction is a word that joins two 
sentences together. 

How to make a list of Conjunctions. 

139. Let us take two sentences, such as " I liked 
John/' and " John liked me," and let us try to find 
words that can join these two sentences together. 
These words will be Conjunctions. By slightly 
changing the sentences, for instance, altering ' likes' 
into c dislikes/ we shall obtain new Conjunctions. 



Conjunctions. 



65 



I liked John 



I liked John 



I liked John 



I liked John 



I liked John 



I liked John 




(2) 

after* till* 
before * (or) 
when * until * 
while * 

(3) 
-as* 

because * 
for 
. since * 

(4) ' 
consequently 
hence 
so 
> therefore 

(5) 
but, however 
nevertheless 
notwithstanding 

(6) 
although * 
though * 
. whereas * 



John liked 
me 



John liked 
me 



John liked 
me 



John liked 
me 



John 
disliked me 



John 
disliked me 



66 



I will help 
John 

I will not 
help John 

I shall go to 
John 



I will help 
John 



I will help 
John 



I helped 
John so 

The ice was 
so thin 



The Parts of Speech 

(7) 
| if* ) 

I provided that * J 



> unless * 



(8) 



(9) 



-or 



C 



(10) 
that* 
in order that * 



en) 

lest* 

for fear that * 



(12) 



that 
- that 



John helps 
me 

John helps 
me 

John will 
come to me 

John may 
like me 

John should 

or may 
dislike me 



John liked 

me 

The boys 

fell in 



140. Note that after some Conjunctions (all those 
marked * above) the second sentence, preceded by 
its Conjunction, may be placed first, without altering 
the meaning. 

141. For example, instead of saying " I liked John 
after John liked me," you may say, without altering 
the sense, " After John liked me I liked John." 



Conjunctions. 67 

Exercise LVL 

Insert Conjunctions, from Class (2) above, at the 
beginning of the following : — 

1. — winter set in. The ant had gathered a good 
store of food. 2. — printing was invented. Peo- 
ple used to write books with pen and ink. 3. — 
printing was invented. Books became much cheaper. 
4. — The shepherd was sleeping. The sheep were 
straying. 5. — You have had } T our innings. I shall 
have mine. 

Exercise LVII. 

Insert Conjunctions, from Class (3) above at the 
beginning of the following : — 

1. — Tom tried to kick Harry. Harcy knocked 
him down. 2. — The wind' blew. The willow bent. 
3. — It was a fine day. They determined to have a 
game at cricket. 4. — The gun-powder was wet. 
The gun did not go off. 5. — He says he is sorry. 
He ought to show by his conduct that he is sorry. 

Exercise LVIIL 

Insert Conjunctions, from Classes (6), (7), and 
(8) at the beginning of the following : — 

. 1. — You do not sow. You will not reap. 2. — 
You are careful. You will not get the prize. 3. — 
The lazy sailor had thrown out the rope at once. The 
drowning boy would have been saved. 4. — He 
promised great things. He did nothing. 



68 The Parts of Speech 

Exercise LIX. 

Insert Conjunctions, from Classes (10), (11), and 
(12), between the following : — 

1. The farmer sows. — He may reap. 2. The 
boy ran under shelter. — He might get wet. 3. We 
must eat. — We may live. 4. He worked hard. — 
He should lose the prize. 5. We ought to work. — 
We may earn our living. 6. This wood is so heavy. 
— It will not float. 

Exercise LX. 

Insert Conjunctions from Classes (10) and (11), at 
the beginning of the following : — 

1. — The baby might not catch cold. The sailor 
wrapped her in his coat. 2. — You may be mis- 
taken. Look over the sum again. 3. — You may 
be read}^ for an accident. Take two strings to your 
bow. 4. — The wild beasts should attack them by 
night. The hunters kindled a fire. 

142. Now join together the following sentences : — 



I like Thomas 
I like Thomas 
I was sent for 
I like pears 



I like John as much. 
I like John more. 
I came as soon. 
I like apples less. 



143. You might join them by inserting but or and 
between them ; but it is more usual to insert as or 
than, and to reverse the order of the sentences 
thus : — 



Conjunctions. 



69 



I like John as much 
I like John more 
I came as soon 



I like apples less than 



(13) 

as ( 26 ) 
than 
as ( 26 ) 



I like Thomas. 
I like Thomas. 
I was sent for. 
I like pears. 



Exercise LXI. 

Join together by Conjunctions the following sen- 
tences : — 

1. I ate some plums. — I was warned against 
them. 2. The horse stopped suddenly. — The rider 
was thrown off. 3. — A train (can travel). The 
swiftest race-horse cannot travel as fast. 1 4. — (I 
like) apples. I like pears better. 1 5. The rainbow 
appears. — The sun is shining. 6. I jumped out of 
the train. — It was still in motion. 7. I did not 
know my lesson. — I got down in my class. 8. The 
old woman scolded Alfred. — He had forgotten to 
watch the cakes. 9. — Word was brought of the 
accident. The doctor set out as soon. 1 

144. The Conjunction too must come after some 
word in the second sentence : — 

(1) I liked John ; (2) John (too) liked me. 

How to find the Sentences joined by a Con- 
junction. 

145. First repeat the Conjunction, and ask ' what?' 
after it. For example, in the first sentence of the 



1 Reverse the order of these Sentences. 



70 The Parts of Speech. 

Exercise below: "when what?" The answer will 
give you the sentence belonging to the Conjunction. 
" When (1) the two mice reached the city." Now 
ask " What? when (1) the two mice reached the 
city." Answer: (2) u They sat down at once to 
dine." (1) and (2) are the sentences joined together 
by the Conjunction when. 

146. And means in addition to, or besides ; and 
but, when used as a Conjunction, means that what 
is going to be spoken of is different from what has 
gone before. Consequently, after you have found 
the sentence belonging to and or but, for example, 
" and (1) John liked me," or " but (1) John liked 
me," you can ask, " What beside John's liking me?" 
or " What was there different from John's disliking 
me;" answer, (2) "I liked John," or (2) "I dis- 
liked John." 

147. Remember that with and, but, for, and all 
the Conjunctions not marked* on pages 65-66 j r ou 
must look back, not forward, for your second sen- 
tence. 

Exercise LXII. 27 [Specimen.] 
Write or repeat what sentences are joined together 
by the italicized Conjunctions in the following Exer- 
cise : — 

When the two mice reached the city, they sat 
down at once to dinner. The town-mouse was most 
attentive to his guest ; he brought out the choicest 
dishes in his larder, and heaped her plate with 
dainties. The poor country-mouse was filled with 
admiration, for she was not accustomed to such 



Conjunctions. 71 

splendor. At home she dined off wooden trenchers, 
but here their dishes were of silver. Moreover, they 
were sitting on velvet, ichereas at home she had 
nothing but plain straw. " Ah ! " said she at last, 
"if I could live like this, I should like always to 
live in town." "Come, by all means," replied her 
host ; " I will gladly make room for you, if you will 
accept a room in my house." While the country- 
mouse was thanking him for his kind offer, they sud- 
denly heard a noifce : and, before she had time to 
ask what was the matter, up jumped the town-mouse, 
and ran for his life. She followed him, breathless 
with fear, and only just escaped the claws of a 
monstrous striped animal, which, the town-mouse 
informed her, was called a cat. After all was quiet 
again, the town-mouse begged her to be seated again 
that dinner might go on as before. But the country- 
mouse replied, "You are very kind; but I would 
rather go back to my quiet country home. Though 
there are no dainties there, yet there are no cats 
either. I like dried peas in quiet better tha?i (I like) 
bacon and cheese in the midst of fears." 

When. (See above, page 70.) 

And: "am? what?" Answer: and (1) "heaped 
her plate with dainties." What, besides his heaping 
her plate with dainties? Answer : (2) " he brought 
out the choicest dishes of his larder." 

For: "for what?" Answer : for (1) " she was 
not accustomed to such splendor." {For means 
4 because '.) What, because she was not accustomed 
to such splendor ? Answer: (2) "the poor country- 
mouse was filled with admiration." 



72 The Parts of Speech. 

But : " but what ? " Answer : but (1) " here their 
dishes were of silver." What was there different 
from this elsewhere? Answer: (2) " at home she 
dined off wooden trenchers." 

Moreover: "moreover what?" Answer: more- 
over (1) " the} 7 were sitting on velvet." What, 
besides the fact that they were sitting on velvet? 
Answer : (2) " their dishes were of silver." 

Whereas : "ivhereas what?" Answer: whereas 

(1) "at home she had nothing but plain straw." 
( Whereas, like but, generally means that something 
different is stated in one sentence from what is stated 
in the other.) What was there different from her 
having nothing but plain straw at home ? Answer : 

(2) " they were sitting on velvet." 

If: "a/what?" Answer: if (1) "I could live 
like this." What, if I could live like this ? Answer : 
(2) " I should like always to live in town." 

If: "^what?" Answer: if (1) "you will ac- 
cept a room in my house." What, (/"you will accept 
a room in my house? Answer: (2) "I will gladly 
make room for you." 

While : ' ' while what ? " Answer : while (1 ) " the 
country-mouse was thanking him for his kind offer." 
What, while the country-mouse was thanking him 
for his kind offer? Answer: (2) "they suddenly 
heard a noise." 

Now notice the next Conjunction carefully. 

A?id : " and what?" The next word to and is 
before, which is itself a Conjunction, followed by the 
sentence, " she had time." Now remember : 



Conjunctions. 73 

148. When two Conjunctions come to- 
gether, parse the second Conjunction first. 

Before: " before what?" Answer: before (1) 
" she had time to ask what was the matter." What, 
before she had time to ask what was the matter? 
Answer : (2) " up jumped the town-mouse." 

Now we go back to and. 

And: " and what?" Answer: (1) " up jumped 
the town-mouse." What happened beforehand, be- 
sides the fact that the town-mouse jumped up ? An- 
swer : (2) " they suddenly heard a noise." 

The next three Conjunctions are easy, and can be 
parsed by the pupil. 

That: "that what?" Answer: that (1) "dinner 
might go on as before." What was done in order 
that dinner might go on as before ! Answer : (2) 
" the town-mouse begged her to be seated again." 

But : " but what ? " Answer : but (1) "I would 
rather go back to my home." What was there dif- 
fer wit from, i. e. likely to prevent the country- 
mouse's going back ? Answer : the kindness of the 
town-mouse, i. e. (2) " you are very kind." 

Though : " though what? " Answer : though (1) 
" there are no dainties there." What is there, though 
there are no dainties? Answer: (2) u there are no 
cats." 

Yet (which might be left out without altering the 
sense) joins the same two sentences as though. 

Than : ' 4 than what ? " Answer : than ( 1 ) "I like 
bacon and cheese in the midst of fears." What do I 



74 The Parts of Speech. 

like better "than I like bacon and cheese in the 
midst of fears?" Answer: (2) "I like dried peas 
in quiet." 

Exercise LXIII. 

Write or repeat what sentences are joined together 
by the italicized Conjunctions in the following Exer- 
cise : — 

Once, when the weather was very dry, a thirsty 
crow searched eveiywhere for water, but she could 
not find a drop. While she was croaking for sorrow, 
she spied a jug. Down she flew at once, and eagerly 
pushed in her bill ; but it was of no use. There was 
plenty of water in the jug, but she could not reach it, 
because the neck of the vessel was so narrow. After 
she had tried in vain for half an hour to reach the 
water, she next attempted to tip the jug over ; but it 
was too heavy for her, and she could not stir it. 
Just when she was on the point of giving up in de- 
spair, a new thought struck her. "If" said she, " I 
drop some stones into the jug, the water will rise 
higher, and in time it will rise up to my bill." At 
once, though she was nearly fainting with thirst, she 
bravely set to work. As each stone fell, the water 
rose ; and, before half an hour had passed, the clever 
crow r had drunk every drop in the jug. 

All that you need write down in doing this Exer- 
cise is the pair of sentences joined by each Conjunc- 
tion, thus : — 



Conjunctions. 75 

When joins together 

1. " the weather was very diy " 

2. " a thirsty crow . . . water." 

Conjunctions with Verbs omitted. 

149. Now here is a difficulty. Take some sen- 
tences with Conjunctions : — 

(1) 'John and Thomas came. 

(2) Pears are better than apples. 

(3) Beef is as good as mutton. 

150. Where are the two sentences joined together 
by each of these Conjunctions? Take sentence (1) : 
"Thomas came" is one sentence, but where is the 
other? 

151.- The answer is that sentence (1) is a short 
way of saying two sentences, viz.: "John came," 
and "Thomas came." So that and does really join 
together two sentences. 

152. In the samewa} 7 , sentence (2) is a short way 
of saying "Apples are good." "Pears are better" 
( 28 ) ; and (3) is a short way of saying, " Mutton is 
good." " Beef is as good." ( 29 ) 

153. But you cannot alwaj's easily find out the 
sentences that are joined together by and, than; 
and therefore, unless your teacher tells you to the 
contrary, you may simply write down ' Conjunction ' 
opposite both, and, than, without mentioning what 
sentences they join together. ( 30 ) 



76 The Parts of Speech. 

Pairs of Conjunctions. 

154. Sometimes a Conjunction (which might be 
left out without altering the sense) is put in to 
prepare the way for another Conjunction, for ex- 
ample : — 

{Either) I like John or I dislike John. 

(Not only) do I like John, but also John likes me. 

The city was (both) ( 31 ) taken and destroyed. 

155. In these cases you may write down either, 
not only, and both, simply as Conjunctions : for they 
join the same sentences as are joined by or, but, 
also, and. 

156. Again, sometimes a Conjunction (which 
might be left out without altering the sense) is in- 
serted just to mark the beginning of the second sen- 
tence, for example : 

Though j-ou dislike me, (yet) I like you. 
Because you have helped me, (therefore) I will 
help you. 

157. In these cases you may write down yet, and 
therefore, simply as Conjunctions, for they join the 
same sentences as are joined by though and because. 

Exercise LXIV. 

Write or repeat what sentences are joined by the 
following italicized Conjunctions : — 

A conceited young cock was angry at being* 



Conjunctions. 7 7 

scolded* by his mother. So (p. 65, 4) * one night 
he said to himself, " My mother is older than I am : 
but I am as wise as my mother. She told me not to 
go near the well in the farm-yard : but what harm 
is there * in a well ? I will go to the well as soon as 
the sun rises." When the sun rose, out he went, 
before his mother was quite awake. ( 32 ) * He peeped 
over the brink of the well and saw a }'Oung cock at 
the bottom. " Either my mother was ver}^ foolish 
or 1 she did not speak the truth," said the foolish 
cockerel. " Not only did she warn me against the 
well, but she also said no chicken could * live down 
there. But (unless my eyes deceive me) I see a 
chicken of my own age and size, See ! I believe it 
wants to fight." Immediately he clapped his wings 
and crowed, as* much* as* to* say,* " If you 
want to* fight,* I am ready for you." Then, when 
his feathers were well ruffled, he looked down again. 
There was the young cock with ruffled feathers 
threatening * him from the bottom of the well. 
Though his mother had warned him a thousand 
times against the well, yet the cockerel thought of 
nothing but conquering ( 33 ) * this new enemy. So 
down he leapt, and never came up again. 

Exercise LXV. 

Parse all the words in the Exercise above, except 
those marked *. 

1 Sometimes the second question can be asked more easily by 
slightly altering the Conjunction : "What happened so (that) one 
day he said to himself?" "What happened, or (else) she did not 
speak the truth ?" 



78 The Parts of Speech 

Adverbs used as Conjunctions. 

158. Remember that so, now, then, and other 
words sometimes used as Adverbs, are not Adverbs 
but Conjunctions, when they join sentences together. 

159. It is very easy to tell which Part of Speech 
each of these words is, if you first ask what it does. 
For example, in " He is so good," so tells you how 
good he is, therefore it is an Adverb. But in the 
last sentence of Exercise LXIV. so joins together 
(1) " down he leapt" and (2) " the cockerel thought 
of nothing but, etc." Therefore it is a Conjunction. 

160. The only difficulty is, that sometimes Con- 
junctions like" so, therefore, consequently, etc., might 
be said to ' tell you why,' and therefore to be Ad- 
verbs. Where a word seems to have the force of an 
Adverb as well as the force of a Conjunction, it may 
be called an Adverbial Conjunction. 



Conjunctions following an incomplete 
Sentence. 

161. Take such a sentence as "I asked," or "he 
explained." Each of these makes a statement and 
therefore each may be called a sentence : but each is 
incomplete, making us ask the question, " asked 
what?" "explained what?" Now what words can 
join each of these to another sentence, for example, 
to " John was travelling?" 



Conjunctions. 



79 



I asked 

He explained 



how 
when 
where 
-{ whether 
whither 
whence 
why 



John was travelling. 



I asked m (if 1 1 j hn was traveUing. 
He explained I that J 

162. All these words then are Conjunctions : and 
observe that all of them, except if and that, are 
also used as asking or Interrogative Adverbs. ( 34 ) 
So be careful to distinguish them, when used as 
Interrogative Adverbs, from the same words when 
used as Conjunctions. 

Exercise LXVI. [Specimen.] 

Parse the italicized words in the following, and 
show what sentences are joined together by the itali- 
cized Conjunctions : — 

Two travellers were talking about the color of the 
chameleon. "When I saw it," said one, " it was 
lying quietly in the shade, so I had a good sight of 
it ; and I never saw so beautiful a blue." " Blue ! " 
said the other, "it's as green as the grass. You 
could* not have* fancied* that it was blue, ^you 
had seen it as I did, basking* in the sun and feed- 
ing* on the air." " Nonsense," said the first, " do 
you mean to say that I have no ej^es? " From words 

1 It is better to use whether than if after * ask.' 



80 



The Parts of Speech. 



they would * soon have * come * to blows ; but a 
third traveller just then came up and asked them 
why they were quarrelling. When they told him 
the cause of their dispute, he burst out laughing.* 
' ' Why do you laugh at us ? " said they. ' ' Because" 
replied he, u I have a chameleon in my pocket, and 



Word. 



when 



so 



so 
as 



that 

if 

as 

that 

but 
just 

then 
why 

when 



What the word does. 



{ 



\ u I saw it 

( " it was lying in the shade " 

" ( " I had a good sight of it" 

Tells you how beautiful. 

(Put for ' so.') Tells you how green. 

-r . f " it is as green " 
Joins < ,, ,i & ,. x „ 

( u the grass (is green) 

" you could not have fancied" 

" it was blue" 

u you could not . . . blue" 

" you had seen it . . . air" 

u you had seen it" 

U I did, i.e. I saw it" 

" do you mean to say?" 

u I have no eyes" 

u they would have . . . blows" 

" a third . . . came up" 
Means " precise^," answers to the ques- 
tion " how far is it true; " goes with 
then. 
Tells you when. 

Joins I " askedthem " 

( u they were quarelling " 

they told . . . dispute " 

he burst . . . laughing." 



I" 1 



Conjunctions. 



81 



was looking at it only* ( 35 ) last night; so I ought 
to know what color it is. I will now produce it, 
and will prove that it is neither blue nor green, but 
blacker than ink. Here it is, gentlemen." But 
now it * was his turn to look foolish ; for it was as 
white as snow. 



What the word is. 



> Therefore it is a Conjunction. 

> Therefore it is a Conjunction. 

Therefore it is an Adverb. 
Therefore it is an Adverb. 

> Therefore it is a Conjunction. 

> Therefore it is a Conjunction. 

> Therefore it is a Conjunction. 

> Therefore it is a Conjunction. 

> Therefore it is a Conjunction. 

> Therefore it is a Conjunction. 

> Therefore it is an Adverb. 

Therefore it is an Adverb. 

> Therefore it is a Conjunction. 

I Therefore it is a Conjunction. 



82 



The Parts of Speech. 



What the word does. 



Asks why 

Joins I" 1 laugh " omimd 

\ " I have . . . pocket" 

( " I have . . . pocket 

("I was looking . 



night " 
f " I was looking . . . night" 
" ( " I ought to know " 
Tells you when. 
T . *f " it is blacker " 
^^{"ink (is black)" 
Tells you where, etc. 

J' m4!! (he ^ asted V 1 !• r K» tis, " 

( " now it . . . foolish" 
Tells you when. 

Joins \ .. .. 

I " it was 



foolish 
snow " 



( "it was as (so) white" 
( u snow (is white)" 



Exercise LXVII. 

Parse all the words in the Exercise above except 
those marked *. 



Exercise LXVIII. 

Parse the italicized words in the following Exer- 
cise, showing what sentences are joined together by 
the Conjunctions : — 

Once a girl was carrying a pan of milk to mar- 
ket. As she went, she began to count up the money 
she would get, and she tried to fancy what she would 



Conjunctions. 83 



What the word is. 



Therefore it is an Adverb. 

> Therefore it is a Conjunction 

> Therefore it is a Conjunction. 

I Therefore it is a Conjunction. 

Therefore it is an Adverb. 
I Therefore it is a Conjunction. 

Therefore it is an Adverb. 

> Therefore it is a Conjunction. 
Therefore it is an Adverb. 

I Therefore it is a Conjunction. 

I Therefore it is a Conjunction; 



do with it. " When" said she, "I have sold all my 
milky J shall have five shillings. After I have laid 
out my five shillings in new-laid eggs, I shall have 
( 36 ) between sixty and seventy chickens. Though 
some of these may die, I shall have at least fifty 
pullets , which I will fatten that I may sell them next 
Christmas ; for at Christmas poultry fetch a good 
price. Then, in the spring, I will buy the best dress 
that can be had for money, and not a girl in the 
village shall be finer than I. So all the lads in the 
village will want me to be their partner when we 
dance at the fair ; but I shall be a fine lady and 



84 The Parts of Speech 

tell them to keep their distance, tossing my head 
thus? As she said these words, up went her head 
and down went the milk. 

Do not count your chickens before they are 
hatched. 



CHAPTER IX. 
OTHER PRONOUNS. 

(1) * Adjective-Pronouns. (* 36 ) 

163. Sometimes an Adjective is used without its 
Noun for shortness. For example : " These fish are 
the best (fish) I have." u I have onty ten marbles ; 
give me two (marbles) more." " What book is this 
(book)? Give me that (book), and take this (book) 
away." " Which (book) would you like of these 
books?" In all these cases the Nouns (which are 
left out for shortness) can be supplied after their 
Adjectives, from the sentence. 

164. But you cannot supply the Noun after that in 
"The reign of George IV. was not so long as that 
of George III." That is here put for "the reign," 
and not for " that reign." Again, that is often put 
for a Noun-phrase, as in fcC Is he ill? I am sony to 
hear that" Here that is put for " the fact of his 
being ill," u the news of his illness," or some other 
Noun-phrase. 

165. Consequently, in these cases, that is not an 
Adjective, but a Pronoun. And generally, whenever 
you meet with a word often used as an Adjective, 
and find that it has no Noun with it, and that } r ou 
cannot supply a Noun from the sentence, you may 



86 The Parts of Speech. 

say that the word is here not an Adjective, but a 
Pronoun. 

166. For example: in " some think one thing, 
others think another (thing)," some is put for " some 
persons," and others is put for "other (not others) 
persons." The word " persons " is not supplied from 
the sentence. Therefore some and others are Pro- 
nouns. But, after "another" you can repeat the 
word " thing " from the sentence: therefore " an- 
other" is an Adjective, with Noun omitted. 

167. Hence the words mine, thine, yours, hers, 
ours, theirs, have no right to be called Adjectives, 
for you cannot supply a Noun after any of them. 
For example, in " This is } T our book, and not mi)ie," 
mine is put for "my book," and not for "mine book," 
and must therefore be called a Pronoun, and not an 
Adjective. (* See §170.) 

168. What, when used to ask a question, should 
be called a Pronoun, unless it has a Noun with it. 
For in l ' What did he say ? " " What do you think ? " 
you cannot supply a Noun after what, at least, not 
from the sentence ; consequently it is not an Adjec- 
tive. But in " What song did she sing?" what 
asks which song, and is, of course, an Adjective. 
(*See, also, § 169, III., below.) 

Exercise LXIX. [Specimen.] 

Parse the italicized words in the following Exer- 
cise : — 

A kind, but ( 37 ) rather foolish bear was very fond 
of a wood-cutter. He shared his food with the man, 



Other Pronouns. 87 

and protected him from all the wild beasts in the 
forest, so that none of them ventured to attack him. 
One day, when the wood-cutter was very weary, 
" Why do you not lie down," said the bear, "and 
sleep for half-an-hour? " " How shall I keep off the 
wolves?" said the wood-cutter. " That is my busi- 
ness, not yours" replied the bear. So the wood- 
cutter lay down and slept, while the bear watched 
him. Presently, up came the wolves, but, though 
they were seven to one, their courage was not equal 
to that of the bear : so they slank away. After that, 
came a tigress : but this did not frighten Bruin, and 
even the tigress, though she snarled and showed her 
teeth, did not attack the sleeping man. Next came 
a roaring lion, but the brave bear only got up and 
shook himself, and stood on one side of the wood- 
cutter : so the lion passed by on the other. Last 
camera bee, and with her buzzing nearly waked the 
sleeper. "Go* away," said the bear. "I shall 
not," said the bee : " this forest is ours, not yours." 
" No one else has disturbed my friend," said the 
bear, in a rage; "and will you venture?" "Yes, 
I will," replied the bee: " others are cowards, per- 
haps, but I am none." With these words, she lighted 
on the cheek of the wood-cutter. At this, the bear 
lost all patience ; he lifted his huge paw, and struck 
the bee with all his might. The blow killed the bee, 
but nearly killed the wood-cutter too ( 38 ), and bruised 
him so badly that for months afterwards he remem - 
bered the kindness of the foolish bear. 



88 The Parts of Speech. 

None is put for "no (not none) wild beast." 
Therefore it is a Pronoun. 

That is put for " keeping off the wolves." There- 
fore it is a Pronoun. 

Yours is put for "your (not yours) business." 
Therefore it is a Pronoun. 

Seven is put for "seven (wolves):" " Wolves" 
can be supplied from the sentence. Therefore 
" seven" is an Adjective, with Noun omitted. 

That is put for " the (not that) courage." There- 
fore it is a Pronoun. 

That is put for " the slinking away of the wolves." 
Therefore it is a Pronoun. 

This is put for " the coming of the tigress." 
Therefore it is a Pronoun. 

Other is put for " other (side)." " Side" is sup- 
plied from the sentence. Therefore other is an 
Adjective, with Noun omitted. 

Ours is put for " our (not ours) forest." There- 
fore it is a Pronoun. 

Yours is put for "your (not yours) forest." 
Therefore it is a Pronoun. 

Others is put for "other (not others) animals." 
Therefore it is a Pronoun. 

None is put for " no (not none) coward." There- 
fore it is a Pronoun. 

These tells you what words. Therefore it is an 
Adjective. 

This is put for "the lighting of the bee on the 
man's cheek." Therefore it is a Pronoun. 



Other Pronouns. 89 

Exercise LXX. 
Parse every word in the above Exercise. 

Exercise LXXI. 
Parse the italicized words in the following : — 

The owl and the eagle struck up a friendship. 
" How shall I know your young ones?" ( 39 ) said the 
eagle. "-I have no fear that you will attack mine, 
but I wish to spare yours " u My children," replied 
the owl, u are the most beautiful birds in the forest ; 
you will see none equal to them anywhere. Their 
plumage is as white as snow, their voice is sweeter 
than that of a nightingale, their eyes like ( 40 ) those 
of a gazelle." " You astonish me," replied the eagle ; 
" I have met many birds in my time, some very 
beautiful, but never any equal to these. However, 
I shall easily know them when I meet them. Now 
I will wish you good-day." Away flew the eagle, 
and came in a few moments to the nest of the owl. 
When he spied the ugl} T little nestlings, he said 
" These at least can* not* be* the children of my 
friend, so I will have them for dinner." Just when 
he was on the point of killing them, the owl flew 
down screaming # with terror and anger. The eagle 
stopped in time, and explained that he had not 
known them. " But," added he, "this ( 41 ) is your 
fault, not mine. You ought* not to* think* that 
your children will seem to others the same as they 
seem to you." 



90 The Parts of Speech. 

Exercise LXXII. 

Parse all words in the above, except those 
marked *. 

* 169. We see, then, that certain words are used 
both as Pronouns and as Adjectives ; — as Pronouns, 
when the}^ stand alone, instead of Nouns ; — as 
Adjectives, when they stand with Nouns, to qualify 
them. Because of this double use, they are called 
either Adjective-Pronouns or (though less com- 
monly) Pronominal (that is, Pronoun-) Adjec- 
tives. (* 41 ) They are : — 

I. Demonstratives, — this, that, these, those', 

II. Indefinites, — any, some, all, both, many, 
few, one; each, either, neither; such, other ; (* 42 ) 

III. Which, what, and their compounds. (See 
§ 201.) 

(2) Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns. 

* 170. Two groups of words : — 

(1) My, our, thy, your, his, her, its, their, and 
whose (* 43 ) ; 

(2) Mine, ours, thine, yours, his, hers, its, 
theirs, and whose ; — 

denote Possession, and are therefore called Pos- 
sessives. (1) are used only as Adjectives, (2) 
only as Pronouns ; but three words, his, its, and 
whose, (* 44 ) have the same form in each group, and 
the two groups are closely related both in origin and 
in meaning. (* 45 ) 



Other Pronouns. 91 

(3) Indefinite Pronouns. 

* 171. The following Indefinites are used only as 
Pronouns, — none, aught, naught; the compounds 
of some, any, every and no with one, thing, and 
body ; somewhat ; and the phrases each other and 
one another. 

* Exercise LXXIII. 

Write a number of sentences, using correctly the 
words named in §§ 169-171. Whenever you can, 
use the same word first as a Pronoun, and again as 
an Adjective. 



(4) Asking or Interrogative Pronouns. 

172. If the door-bell rings and you want to ask 
some one the name of the person at the door, how 
could you ask, supposing you were not allowed to 
use anything but Nouns and Verbs? You would 
have to repeat the names of different persons : " Did 
John, or Thomas, or Mary, etc., ring?" Instead 
of this, we sa} T , " Who rang?" 

173. In the same way, if a person has said some- 
thing, instead of asking, "Did he say this or that, 
etc. ? " mentioning a number of Nouns or Noun- 
phrases — we ask, " What did he say? " 

174. Who and What, being thus used in the 
place of Nouns, are called Pronouns ; and, as they 
ask or interrogate, they are sometimes called Inter- 
rogative Pronouns ( 42 ). 



92 The Parts of Speech. 

* (5) Conjunctive Pronouns. 

Asking or Interrogative Pronouns used to join 
Sentences. 

175. Join together : (1) " What have you done?" 
(2) " Tell me." Answer: (3) "Tell me what you 
have done ? " 

176. Join together: (1) " Who has come?" (2) 
"I do not know." Answer: (3) " I do not know 
who has come." 

177. In these sentences marked (3), what and 
who are not, strictly speaking, Interrogative Pro- 
nouns, for they do not ask a question. They are, 
strictly speaking, used Conjunctively, that is, they 
are used to join sentences ; but, as they were Inter- 
rogative Pronouns before the two sentences were 
joined, they are sometimes still called Interrogative 
Pronouns. 1 

Exercise LXXIV. [Specimen.] 

Parse the italicized words in the following Exer- 
cise : — 

An old farmer, at the point of death, sent for his 
idle, careless son and said: "I fear that you will 
soon spend all your money : so I will tell you what 
you must do when you find that you have nothing. 
There is a treasure in the ground " — here he paused. 
" Who put it there? To whom does it belong? In 

1 Elsewhere Dr. Abbott calls them Conjunctive Pronouns — a con- 
venient (because distinctive) name. 



Other Pronouns. 93 

what part of the farm is it ? What shall I do to * 
get* it?" asked the young man. "You will find 
it, if you dig for it," replied his father ; " but I will 
not tell you who put it there, nor where it is." Soon 
after this, he died. The young man forgot every- 
thing about the treasure, till at last he found that he 
had not a penny in his pocket. " What must* I 
do* now?" said he to himself; and now he remem- 
bered that his father had told him what he ought * 
to* do.* So he worked away and dug everywhere 
about the farm. He never found a treasure of gold, 
but his digging enriched the ground so that it brought 
forth a double crop ; and that was as good as a treas- 
ure. After this he became an industrious man, 
and prospered as his father had prospered before 
him. 

178. N. B. It is not always easy to say what 
Noun what is put for. It will therefore be enough 
to remember that what is always an Adjective or 
Pronoun, and therefore, if it has no Noun joined to 
it, it must be a Pronoun. In such cases you may 
write down ' Pronoun ' at once. 

What is a Pronoun, and it joins — (1) "I will 
tell you." (2) "What must you do?" Therefore 
it is a Conjunctive Pronoun. 

Who is a Pronoun, and it asks a question. There- 
fore it is an asking, or Interrogative Pronoun. 

Whom. The same answer. 

What, Pronoun, and it asks a question. There- 
fore it is an Interrogative Pronoun. 

Who is a Pronoun and joins — (1) "I will not 



94 The Parts of Speech. 

tell you." (2) " Who put it there ? " Therefore it 
is a Conjunctive Pronoun. 

What is a Pronoun, and asks a question. There- 
fore it is an Interrogative Pronoun. 

What , Pronoun, and it joins — (1) " His father 
had told him." (2) "What ought he to do?" 
Therefore it is a Conjunctive Pronoun. 

Exercise LXXV. 

Parse every word in the above except the words 
marked *. 

For the future, you need not always write down 
the sentences joined by who and what ; but you 
must distinguish between who and what when used 
Interrogatively, and when used Conjunctively. 

Exercise LXXVI. 

Parse the italicized words in — 

The lion and the tiger had joined together for a 
hunt, and had killed a fine stag ; but they could not 
agree ichich ( 43 ) should* choose* first. " I am the 
king of the beasts," said the lion to the tiger ; " Who 
are you, in comparison with me?" "Ido not care 
who you are," replied the tiger; "I know what I 
mean to* do,* and that is, to* have* the first 
choice." " What do you say?" roared the lion; 
" If you wish* for a battle, I am ready." At once 
they flew to battle and fought till the sun went down. 
By that time, they were quite tired out, and so 
terribly wounded that neither ( 43 ) could* attack* 



Other Pronouns. 95 

the other ( 43 ). While they lay helplessly on the 
ground, up crept the fox and the wolf and dragged 
the stag away. 

Exercise LXXVII. 

Parse all words in the above, except those 
marked *. 

(6) Relative Pronouns. 

179. Suppose some boy in a class has broken a 
blind man's window, and the blind man comes into 
the class-room to ask for the boy ; how can he ask 
for the bo}^ ? 

180. He might begin by saying " I want the boy ; " 
but this conveys an incomplete meaning. The teacher 
would say " which boy?" and the blind man, not 
having seen the boy cannot point at him and say 
"that'bo}'." He might add another sentence and 
say " I want the boy : he broke my window : " but, 
if he wants to join these two sentences, he must say 
"I want the boy that broke my window." 

Exercise LXXVnI. 

Join the following sentences by using that instead 
of the italicized words : — 

1. This is the house. — Jack built the house. 2. 
This is the cow. — The cow tossed nry dog. 3. I 
want the boy. — The hoy stole my apples. 4. The 
boy ran for a policeman. — The boy saw the murder. 
5. The boy picked all the flowers. — He saw the 
flowers in the garden. 6. Yesterday we played a 



96 The Parts of Speech. 

game. — We had never played the game before. 

7. Give me the book. — I asked you for the book. 

8. What is the name of the place? — You are going 
to the place. 

The position of * that.' 

181. Observe in the first sentence, and in some 
others, of the Exercise above, that the word " that" 
cannot always be put in the same place as the Noun 
for which it is substituted. This is because that is 
not only a Pronoun, but also has the force of a Con- 
junction. Consequently it has sometimes to take 
the position of a Conjunction. But in sentence 4 
"that" cannot take the position of a Conjunction, 
because if it came next after ' policeman,' it would 
seem put for 4 policeman,' and not for ' boy.' 

Who, whom, which. 

182. Note that the Nouns in all the sentences of 
the last Exercise give an incomplete meaning : ' the 
house,' 4 the cow,' ; the boy,' are all incomplete. 
For example, after "This is the house," one asks 
44 What house ? " Even after 44 Yesterda} 7 we played 
a game," one naturally asks " What game? " 

183. But now join together the following sen- 
tences : — (1) " The prize was gained by Thomas." 
(2) " He had twice before been successful." Here 
the Noun, c Thomas,' is complete ; and the second 
sentence only tells us something more about 6 Thomas.' 
In such cases who is used instead of that: u The 



Other Pronouns. 97 

prize was gained by Thomas, who had been twice 
before successful. " 

184. Join together — (1) " The prize was gained 
by Thomas." (2) "I had beaten Thomas twice 
before." Answer: "The prize was gained by 
Thomas, whom I had beaten twice before." 

185. Join together — (1) " The robber took my 
purse." (2) " It contained ten pounds." Answer : 
"The robjber took my purse, ichich contained ten 
pounds." 

Exercise LXXIX. 
Join the following sentences by using pronouns 
who, whom, which: — 

1. I heard this story from the captain of the ves- 
sel. — He, however, was not present when the pirates 
boarded her. 2. I have been beaten in Arithmetic 
by Jack. — I have always beaten him before. 3. 
Yesterday we played at foot-ball. — I do not like it 
as well as cricket. 4. I bade farewell to my friends. 
— I thought I should never see my friends again. 
5. The barrister persuaded the jury to acquit the 
prisoner. — He was pleading for the prisoner. 6. 
What is the name of the place ? — You are going to 
the place. ( 44 ) 

' What/ put for ' that which/ 

186. Join together the two sentences : (1) " What 
do you say ? " (2) ' ' That is wrong." When joined, 
the two become, " What you say, that is wrong," or 
" what you say is wrong." Thus what is used Con- 
junctively, and is the same as that which. 



98 The Parts of Speech. 

187. For example, in Exercise LXXXII, what, in 
"what I have said is nothing but the truth," joins 
the two sentences, (1) "What have I said?" and 
(2) " That is nothing but the truth." 

What is the meaning of ' Relative ' ? 

188. What name are we to give to the Pronouns 
that, who, which, what, when used, as above, Con- 
junctively? We might call them Conjunctive Pro- 
nouns ; but, if we did, we should have the same 
name for who in the two sentences — 

(1) Tell me who gained the prize. 

(2) The prize is gained by John, who gained the 
prize twice before. 

189. Now in {I), who is almost an Interrogative 
word ; it does not carry you back to an} 7 preceding 
Noun ; but who in (2) carries you back to 4 John.' 
Consequently who in (2) is said to be a Relative 
Pronoun (re-, back; lative, carrying). 

190. In the same way the Pronouns that and 
which, when they carry you back to preceding 
Nouns, are not called Conjunctive (though they join 
two sentences together), but Relative Pronouns. 
Of course they are Conjunctive as well as Relative ; 
but in practice they are called merely Relative. 

191. A Relative Pronoun is a Conjunctive 
Pronoun used so as to refer to a preceding 
Noun or Pronoun. 

192. Notice that he, it, etc., are Relative (that is, 
carry you back) to preceding Nouns ; but they are 



Other Pronouns, 99 

not used Conjunctively. Consequently they differ 
from Eelative Pronouns. 

Antecedent. 

193. The Noun or Pronoun for which a Relative 
Pronoun is put, is called (since it comes before the 
Relative Pronoun) the Antecedent (cinte-, before ; 
cedent, coming). 

194. What is never used with an Antecedent. 
But it sometimes contains an Antecedent. For 
example, in " What you say is true," what is put 
for Antecedent ' that/ Relative ' which.' When ichat 
is thus put for 6 that which,' it is said to be Relatively 
used. 

Exercise LXXX. [Specimen.] 

Parse the italicized words in the following : — 

; ' Who has seen the fox ? " said the huntsman to 
the farmer. "I shall be much obliged if you will 
tell me loho knows anything about him. I thought 
he turned up the lane that leads to your house." 
Now you must * know * the fox had hidden in the 
hay-loft and the farmer had promised that he would 
not tell what had become of him. So when the 
huntsman said " What has become of the fox?" the 
farmer made no answer in words ; but he winked, 
and pointed to the hay-loft, which was close to the 
place where the} T were standing. But the huntsman 
did not understand what he meant, and rode away 
in haste. As soon as the sound of the hoofs had 
ceased, up jumped the fox and walked quietly away. 



100 The Parts of Speech. 

" Hulloa ! " said the farmer, " What are you doing? 
How comes it that you do not stop even * ( 45 ) to * 
thank* me, who have saved your life? Who will 
be kind to a beast that does not remember kindness ? 
I can't understand what you can * be * thinking of." 
" What you say," replied the fox, "seems very 
reasonable, and I will thank you with all my heart 
when you explain to me why your kindness made 
you point * at me in the haj'-loft. Till you can ex- 
plain what you mean by that, I shall thank the 
stupidity of the huntsman, and not the kindness of 
my host." 

195. N.B. — Whenever ivho refers to an Antece- 
dent, and what is put for that which, they may at 
once be called (1) Relative ; when they ask a ques- 
tion, (2) Interrogative ; in other cases, (3) Conjunc- 
tive. 

196. You need not write down, each time, that 
ivho and what are Pronouns. Who is always a 
Pronoun. And what is always a Pronoun, when not 
an Adjective. You may therefore take for granted 
their being Pronouns ( 46 ), and merely write down 
what sort of Pronouns they are. 

Who asks a question. Therefore it is Interroga~ 
tive. 

Who asks no question and has no Antecedent. 
Therefore it is Conjunctive. 

That, put for ' the lane, 9 Antecedent, ( 47 ) and 
used Conjunctively. Therefore it is a Relative Pro- 
noun. 



Other Pronouns. 101 

That joins (1) " The farmer had promised ; " (2) 
"He would not tell." Therefore it is a Conjunc- 
tion. 

What asks no question, and is not put for that 
which. Therefore it is Conjunctive. 

What asks a question. Therefore it is Interroga- 
tive. 

Which, put for i now the hay-loft,'' Antecedent 
and Conjunction. Therefore it is a Relative Pro- 
noun. 

What asks no question, and is not put for that 
which. Therefore it is Conjunctive. 

What asks a question. Therefore it is Interroga- 
tive. 

That joins (1) " How comes it? (2) you do not 
stop to thank me." Therefore it is a Conjunction. 

Who, put for i though I' Antecedent and Con- 
junction. Therefore it is Relative. 

That, put for ' a beast,' Antecedent, and used 
Conjunctively. Therefore *it is Relative. 

What asks no question, and is not put for that 
which. Therefore it is Conjunctive. 

What, put for that which. Therefore it is Rela- 
tive. 

What asks no question, and is not put for that 
ichich. Therefore it is Conjunctive. 

That, put for 6 the act of pointing at me.' There- 
fore it is a Pronoun. 

197. N.B. — If you are asked to specify the sen- 
tences joined together by icho and what, when used 
Conjunctively but not Relatively, you must remein- 



102 The Parts of Speech 

ber that who and what are parts of the second sen- 
tence : — 

(1) If you will tell me (2) who knows anything of 
him. 

(1) He would not tell (2) tvhat had become of 
him. 

Exercise LXXXI. 
Parse all words above not marked *. 

Exercise LXXXII. 

Parse the italicized Pronouns in the following 
Exercise : — 

A crow sat on a bough, with a fine piece of cheese 
in her mouth, the scent of which soon brought the 
fox to the spot. He tried all the kind words that he 
knew, to # persuade * her to * give * him a morsel of 
the cheese : but in vain. At last he began to praise 
her plumage, which was very smooth and glossy, 
and as black as jet. When he saw that she was 
tickled with this flattery, he added, " What I have 
said is nothing but ( 48 ) the truth. The Bird of Para- 
dise, who calls herself Queen of the birds, and whom 
all birds admire, is not so beautiful as you are. Ah ! 
how sorry I am that you do not sing. If you did 
but ( 49 ) sing, I do not know a bird that would not 
yield to you." At these words the crow became so 
proud that she thought she could sing as well as 
the nightingale. She opened her beak, and down 
tumbled the cheese ; which the fox snapped up and 
carried off to his hole. 



Other Pronouns. 11)3 

Exercise LXXXIII. 
Parse all words above not marked *. 

Rule for using ' who ■ and ' that.' 

198. The following may be useful as a rule to tell 
you when to use that, and when to use who, whom, 
or which : — 

199. That is used as the Relative Pronoun, except 
when you can make a pause between the Relative 
Pronoun and the Antecedent. When you can make 
a pause, who or which is used instead of ( 50 ) that. 
For example : — 

(1)1 heard it from the boy that takes round the 
beer. 

(2) I heard it from the landlord, who heard it from 
the policeman. 

In (1) you cannot pause between ' boy ' and ' that' ; 
in (2) you can pause between ' landlord ' and ' who.' 

200. Another difference is that who is put for ' and 
he,' ' now he,' etc. that is for the Antecedent and 
some Conjunction. That cannot be replaced by two 
words in this way. 

** Which ' and 'what* as Adjective-Pronouns. 

* 201. Which, what, and their compounds, 1 
whether Interrogatives, Conjunctives, or Relatives, 
are also used as Adjective-Pronouns. (§ 169.) Thus, 

1 For example, whichever, whatsoever, etc. 



104^ The Parts of Speech. 

(1) "Which (or ichat) book have you?" 

(2) u You know which (or what) book I have." 

(3) " Which prediction 1 was carried out to the 
letter." 

(3) " What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee." 

* 202. On the other hand, who and that (the Rela- 
tive) are never used as Adjectives, since neither can 
qualify a Noun. We cannot say " who man" (in 
any sense) or " That time I am afraid, I will trust 
in thee." In "That time I am (was) afraid," that 
is a Demonstrative Pronoun. 

* Exercise LXXXIV. 

Write a number of sentences using correctly and 
in all possible ways the Pronouns who, which, what 
and that (the Relative) . 

* Exercise LXXXY. 

Read in any History of the United States an ac- 
count of the Battle of Bunker Hill, and then rewrite 
the story in your own words, using as many and as 
many kinds of Pronouns as you can, taking great 
care to use them correctly. 

1 Viz., a prediction just made in a preceding paragraph. (3) is 
perhaps old-fashioned English, but it certainly occurs in some styles 
of writing. 



CHAPTER X. 
USES OF THE VERB. 

203. You have been told that the Verb is a stating 
word ; and it is quite true that a Verb can be used 
to make a statement, and that no other word can be 
thus used. 

204. But Verbs may be used in other ways ; they 
may express — 

l.A question: "Will he come?" "Did he 
come ? " 

2. A command: " Come ! " 

3. A possibility : that is, something that may 
possibly take place or might possibly have taken 
place, but has not taken place : (1) after a Conjunc- 
tion, "When, if, etc. he comes; 99 "He foolishly 
thinks that he knows everything." (2) without a 
Conjunction, "I would, might, should come, or, 
have come." 

Forms of the Verb. 

205. Certain forms of the Verb, made by prefixing 
to or by adding -ing, -ed, -en, ( 51 ) can be used for 
(1) Nouns, (2) Adverbs, (3) Adjectives. 



106 



The Parts of Speech. 





1. NOUN. 


2. AD- 


To 


(I like) to eat 


(I come) to see x 
(I am glad) to see 


-ing 


(I like) eating 
(On) seeing 
(this) 


(John), seeing 2 


-ed, -en 


— 


(John), surprised 



206. You will hear more about these forms of the 
Verb hereafter. For the present, although you can- 
not say with truth that they c make statements,' yet 
you may say with truth that they are "stating words'' 
(that is, they may be used to make statements). 
You may add, if you can, how the " stating words " 
are used, whether to express (1) a question, (2) a 
command, (3) a possibility ; or whether they are used 
for (1) Nouns, (2) Adverbs, (3) Adjectives. 



1 The forms in this column are said to be used for Adverbs, be- 
cause they answer the questions how, when, where, why. "I come." 
Why ? " To see. v " You are cruel (how f) to friyhten her." " He 
is slow (how ? ) to forgive. 11 

2 Forms thus used may be replaced by a Verb and some Conjunc- 
tion. "Seeing" in this column means "when, because, while, etc., 
he saw." 



Uses of the Verb. 



107 



-VERB. 


3. ADJECTIVE. 


. ( that I may see. 
' { because I see. 





( when "\ 
. J after (he saw, 
j. because t (this) 
(though ) 


running (water) 

(a boy) living 8 

(near me) 


/when ^ , 
after he was 
Le '{ because > sur P rised 

(Sgri (attMs) 


heated (iron) 
broken (glass) 



207. Where a form of the Verb is put for a Con- 
junctive word and a verb, you should insert the Con- 
junctive word. 

208. Some of the forms beginning with ' to' can- 
not be explained by } t ou for the present : you must 
therefore simply call them " stating words." 



Exercise LXXXVI. [Specimen.] 

Parse the italicized words in the following Exer- 
cise : — 

A greedy quarrelsome terrier, noticing that a 
butcher was looking another way, slipped into the 

3 " Living" in this column tells you which boy is meant. There- 
fore it is an Adjective. 



108 The Parts of Speech. 

shop, and stole a beef-steak. Before he ate it, he 
thought (that) he icoidd go back to his kennel. 
Now to do this, he was obliged to pass a stream 
flowing not far off. Here, walking across a narrow 
plank that bridged the stream, he saw his own 
shadow in the water. Thinking (that) it was an- 
other dog with another beef-steak, he stopped. 
" Give it to me," he snarled, without opening his 
mouth : for he feared that his beef-steak might drop. 
But the other dog only seemed to snarl again. 
Irritated at this, the terrier howled still louder, still 
keeping his mouth shut: "If } T ou do not give it to 
me, I will come for it." The dog in the water made 
no answer, but only seemed to grow more angry. 
" Will you give it to me? or do you mean to fight? 
If you do, come on ; " said the greedy dog, now 
losing all patience as he saw the other dog, prepar- 
ing to spring upon him. "When I once show my 
teeth, you will repent it." On receiving no answer, 
the terrier opened his mouth and leaped into the 
stream, dropping his beef-steak, which was rapidly 
carried down by the current. Thus the greedy beast, 
led by his greediness, and trying to gain what did 
not belong to him, lost what he already had. If he 
had been content with what he had, he might have 
eaten his beef-steak in peace. 

Noticing, a stating word, put for " when, or be- 
cause, he noticed" (Adverb). 

Was looking, makes a statement about the butcher, 
Therefore it is a Verb. 

Ate, a stating word, expresses a possibility, fol- 
lows the Conjunction ' before.' 



Uses of the Verb, 109 

Would go, a stating word, expresses a possibility : 
follows the Conjunction ; that.' 

To do, a stating word. Answers why? (Ad- 
verb). 

To pass, a stating word (you cannot explain this 
at present). 

Flowing, a stating word, put for * that flowed ' 
(Adjective). 

Walking, a stating word, put for ' while he 
walked' (Adverb). 

Was, a stating word, follows the Conjunction 
' that/ 

Opening, a stating word (Noun). 

Might drop, a stating word ; expresses a possi- 
bility, follows the Conjunction c that.' 

jTo snarl, & stating word. 

Irritated, a stating word, put for ' -4s, because he 
was irritated ' (Adverb). 

Keeping, a stating word, put for ' Though, while 
he kept' (Adverb). 

Z>0 . . . <?W6, a stating word, expresses & possi- 
bility, follows ' if.' 

TFi7£ . . . give, a stating word, asks a question. 

To fight, a stating word, Noun, like c fighting.' 

Come o^, a stating word, expresses a command. 

Losing, a stating word, put for ' wAi'fe or because 
he lost' (Adverb). 

Preparing, a stating word, put for "while he 
was preparing " (Adverb) . 

Show, a stating word, expresses a possibility, 
follows ' when.' 

Receiving, a stating word (Noun). 



110 The Parts of Speech. 

Dropping, a stating word, put for ' while he 
dropped' (Adverb). 

Led, a stating word, put for ' since, because he 
was led ' (Adverb) . 

Trying, a stating word, put for i since because 
he tried' (Adverb). 

Had been and might have been, stating words ; 
both express possibility ; had been follows ' if.' 



Exercise LXXXVII. 
Parse the italicized words in — • 

Two men set out on a journey ; one was blind, the 
other was lame. If they had known that they v:ere 
both going the same way, each might have helped 
the other ; but they did not know this ; so each 
walked on by himself. Very soon the blind man 
overtook the lame man and passed him because he 
could walk much more quickly. But presently he 
came to a stream flowing across the road, and 
bridged by nothing but a narrow plank. Here, 
attempting to cross, he fell in. On finding his 
clothes drenched with water, he sat down to dry 
them. Meantime, the lame man passed him, hob- 
bling along with great difficulty and obliged to stop 
to rest almost every minute. In this foolish way 
they would have pursued their journey, but, passing 
together through the next village, they met a little 
boy, who looked up at them and said, "Why do 
they travel in this foolish way? Surely they woidd 
be more comfortable if the lame man rode on the 



Uses of the Verb. Ill 

blind man. Then the lame man might guide and 
the blind might carry." On hearing this, the blind 
man said at once, " That is a good thought. What 
say you ? I should like to try the experiment if you 
did not object" " By all means," answered the 
other, " I shall be most happy to try it." So up he 
jumped, and in this way they pursued their journey, 
and finished it in half (of) the time that it would 
else have taken. 

Exercise LXXXVIII. ( 52 ) 
Parse all the words in the two last Exercises. 

* Exercise LXXXIX. 

Write an account of the air-pump, (after reading 
one in your Philosophy,) using as many and as many 
kinds of verb-forms as you can. Be careful that 
each is used correctly. 



NOTES. 



Page 3. f 1 ) The Romans, from whom our ancestors learned 
Grammar, used to call these words Nomina (which meant 
names). Compare the word to nominate, i.e. to name. From 
them (through the French) we have borrowed the word, but we 
have altered it to Nouns. 

Page 4. ( 2 ) Or Pronoun, which is a word used instead of a 
Noun. (See page 8. ) 

Page 7. ( 3 ) "Of any kind," i.e. not only of persons and 
places, but of actions, feelings, etc. 

The pupils should be encouraged to enlarge their vocabulary 
by "making Nouns " freely, before passing on to the next chap- 
ter. The exercise of stating the names of the qualities of objects 
is particularly valuable. 

Page 9., ( 4 ) *The rare use of the Reflexives without their 
simpler Pronouns, as in "Myself am lord," is really no excep- 
tion, or (at worst) only an apparent one : the simpler Pronoun 
is always understood. 

* Reflexives are used (1) for emphasis, " I bade you do it your- 
self," (2) to denote that the object of a verb is the same person 
as its subject, "He struck himself." 

Page 13. ( 5 ) His, her, my, etc. are sometimes called Pronouns, 
because they are put for Nouns. But they are not put for 
Nouns exactly ; they are put for a sort of Noun- Adjective made 
out of a Noun. "John" is a Noun, and "he," when put for 
"John," is a Pronoun ; but "John's" is a sort of Noun- Adjec- 
tive, and "his," being put for "John's" is called an Adjective. 
It might be called a Pronoun- Adjective, * or (as is more common, 
perhaps, ) an Adjective-Pronoun. 

*By the same sort of reasoning, however, his, etc. can be 
shown to be true Pronouns. John's is simply a case a particular 
form) of John. Hence, his, which is put for John's, is as truly a 
Pronoun, as is he which is put for John. 



114 The Parts of Speech. 

If his, her, my, etc. were formed (as the Nouns are) by adding 
'5; he's, she's, Fs we's, etc., they might then be called Possessive 
forms of the Pronoun. But, as it is not easy to recognize the 
connection between the Pronouns and their Possessive forms, 
the latter are called Adjectives. 

* Yet his, her, my, etc. are formed (as are the Nouns) by adding 
inflectional letters. (See Note * 45 . ) Except his, its, and whose, 
however, they have lost their true pronominal force, being never 
used without a following Noun. Hence, they are most properly 
treated as Adjectives. (See Chap. IX.) 

Page 14. ( 6 ) The word Adjective is something like adjacent, 
which means "lying close to." For instance, the Isle of Wight 
is said to be adjacent to England. In the same way the words 
spoken of in this chapter are adjacent or Adjective to the Nouns. 

Page 15. (1) A or an used once to be spelt ane. It is the 
same word as one. People used once to say "ane book," or 
"an book." Now, we only use an before a vowel, e.g. "an 
apple." 

Page 15. ( 8 ) *The same is true of Numerals (or Numeral 
Adjectives). A special objection to the name Article is urged 
by Dr. Abbott, Glossary, s. v. 

Page 17. ( 9 ) "Son"- must be supplied after "second," 
"third," etc. 

Page 18. ( 10 ) Notice that "winter," which is generally a 
Noun, is here an Adjective. Almost every Noun can be used as 
an Adjective, especially to denote the material of which any- 
thing is made ; "a paper box," " an ivory pen-holder." 

Page 18. ( n ) These classes of Adjectives may be named (1) 
Distinguishing, (2) Possessive, (3) Adjectives of Quality or Con- 
dition, (4) Ordinal, (5) Adjectives of Number and Amount, that 
is, .Adjectives of Quantity. Numbers are sometimes called 
Numeral Adjectives. 

Page 24. ( 12 ) " May be." Some words, such as grew, became, 
cannot come under any of these three heads, but must simply be 
called stating words. 

Page 25. ( 13 ) It may be a "Verb. But in " we had some pleas- 
ant rides together, " it is a Noun : for it is a name, and not a 
stating word. 

Page 27 (* 14 ) The same Verb, however, may be at one time 
Transitive, at another time Intransitive. The distinction is not 
absolute. 



Notes. 115 

Page 27 (* 15 ) Full definitions may be found in How to Parse, 
§§ 59 - 62. 

Page 27 (* 16 ) How to Parse, chap. IV. 

Page 30. ( 14 ) This and many other sentences should be parsed 
orally, before the pupil begins to write a single Exercise. 

Page 38. ( 15 ) The question how ? includes how often ? how 
long ? hoiu much ? 

Page 39. ( 16 ) An Adverb is rarely used with a Noun. "Even 
the soldiers trembled." Eeally this means "Even such brave 
people as the soldiers, trembled : " so that the Adverb is perhaps 
really used with an Adjective understood. 

Page 39. ( 17 ) Note that much is used with Verbs, very with 
Adjectives. " I shall be very happy," but "I was much pleased." 
But we say "much happier." 

Page 44. ( 18 ) These Adverbs are sometimes called Adverbs of 
Emphasis. 

Page 45. ( 19 ) Sometimes called Asking or Interrogative Ad- 
verbs. 

Page 47. ( 20 ) 'Yes' and 'No' are not Adverbs. They are 
"words put for sentences," and may be called by this name in 
parsing. For example, in answer to "Will you come?" 'yes* 
means " I will come ; " ' no ' means " I will not come." 

Page 51. ( 21 ) The teacher places the ruler above his head, and 
calls out "head." The class, or the pupil whose turn it is, calls 
out "above." Then he places it by, or at, or near his side, and 
calls out " side : " and the class answers accordingly. 

Page 51. ( 22 ) Close is strictly an Adjective, used also as an 
Adverb, and here forming part of a Compound Preposition, 
close to. 

Page 51. ( 23 ) Near, next, are Adjectives, used also as Adverbs 
and as Prepositions. 

Page 51. ( 24 ) Without is now generally used in the sense of 
' deprived of. ' 

Page 54. ( 25 ) The two following Prepositions require special 
notice : — But was once spelt bout, or be-out (like the other 
Prepositions beside, be-fore, be-tween), and meant "without," 
'leaving out,' or 'excepting.' So, "punish anyone but him," 
means "punish any one leaving out, or excepting him." 

Till in Old English was the same as to. So " wait till to- 
morrow" means "wait to to-morrow." 

Page 57. ( 26 *) The following definition has been given : — 



116 The Parts of Speech. 

" The Preposition is a word that shows the relation of a Noun or 
Pronoun to some other word in the sentence." But see Pref- 
ace, p. xii. 

Note that with the Relative Pronoun that, the Preposition 
always follows the Pronoun : "the boy that I spoke to." 

Page 69. ( 26 ) As in "as much," "as soon," "as good/' etc., 
is an Adverb answering to the question how? "how much?" 
"how soon ?" "how good ?" etc. In early English so was used 
where we now use as. "I am so good as he is." 

Page 70. ( 27 ) The Exercise of specifying the Sentences joined 
by Conjunctions is very difficult for young pupils, who will re- 
quire a good deal of oral help and guidance from the teacher 
before they can be expected to do the task by themselves. It 
will be found, however, that Exercise LXIII. is much easier than 
the Specimen Exercise. 

Page 75. ( 28 ) The full explanation of Sentence (2) is this : — 

Than once had a meaning very much like in what degree, how. 
So, sentence (2) meant "in whatever degree (than) apples are 
good, i.e. however good apples are, pears are better." 

Page 75. ( 29 ) The explanation of Sentence (3) is this : — 

As meant "in which, or in what way, or degree, v and also 
"in that degree." Hence the Sentence was originally, "as (in 
what degree) mutton is good, beef is as (in that degree) good," 
i.e. " as mutton is good, beef is as good," or, by inversion, " beef 
is as good as mutton (is good)." 

Page 75. ( 30 ) "Two and two make four" cannot be said to be 
a compression of "two make four " and " two make four." Here 
"two and two" seems to be the same as "two with two," or 
" added to two." (See the use of but, Note 37 .) 

Page 76. ( 31 ) This is a short way of saying "Both (i.e. not 
only) the city was taken and the city was destroyed." 

Page 77. ( 32 ) Awake, like asleep (see p. 59) is an Adverb, 
formed by compressing the Adverbial Phrase in or on wake. 

Page 77. ( 33 ) Conquering is a Noun, coming after the Prepo- 
sition but, which means except. 

Page 79. ( 34 ) Whether was once, but is not now, used In- 
terrogatively. 

Page 81. f 35 ) We can say "only ten, nine, eight days ago," 
just as we say "precisely, just, ten days ago." (See p. 43.) 
Hence only is here an Adverb, connected with last, and answer- 
ing the question "How far is this true ? " 



Notes. 117 

Page 83. ( 36 ) This is a short way of saying "I shall have a 
number of chickens, between sixty and seventy." 

Page 85. (* 36 ) Dr. Abbott's heading was "Adjectives nsed as 
Pronouns " ; but the words intended are (with a few exceptions) 
more properly Pronouns used as Adjectives. (See Note * 41 .) 
An Adjective is, in truth, simply a mode of either a Noun or a 
Pronoun. 

Page 86. ( 37 ) But here joins two Adjectives, "kind" and 
"foolish." 

Page 87. ( 38 ) Too joins the same sentences as but. "But 
. . . too" is something like but also. (See p. 76.) 

P&ge 89. ( 39 ) Ones is put for "creatures" or "children." So 
it is in the Bible, "your wives and your little ones." There- 
fore it is a Pronoun. 

Page 89. ( 40 ) Like is an incomplete Adjective. It begins to 
tell you of what sort the " eyes " are. 

Page 89. ( 41 ) This is put for "my not having known them," 
i.e. " my ignorance. " 

Page 90. (* 41 ) The whole truth is that all Pronouns, like all 
Nouns, (see Note 10 ,) have naturally two uses, — (1) the sub- 
stantive, (2) the adjective. Some of them, it is true, have lost 
one part or the other of this double function ; but others have 
kept both parts. These, in use (1), are properly Adjective-Pro- 
nouns ; in use (2), properly Pronominal Adjectives. Besides 
this, a few Adjectives are used as Pronouns. 

Page 90. (* 42 ) The groups indicated by the semicolons are 
named (respectively) Quantitatives, Distributives, and Com- 
paratives. 

Page 90. (* 43 ) Whose is really a case of who and which, but for 
convenience' sake may be classed as a Possessive. 

Page 90. (* 44 ) The substantive use of his is unquestionable, as 
in " Is this book William's ? " "No, the one you have is his" ; 
but its and whose are less common as Pronouns. Shakspere 
could write, "The last day made former wonders it's," and we, 
perhaps, still say, "The man whose it is (that is, to whom it 
belongs) has come " ; but neither word is familiarly so used 
now. 

Page 90. (* 45 ) Historically, my and thy are simply "decayed" 
forms of mine and thine, as a is a decayed form of an. The n of 
mine and thine, and the r of our, your, her, and their are pos- 
sessive case-endings ; and the s of his, its, ours, yours, hers, and 



118 The Parts of Speech 

theirs is the same s (minus its apostrophe) as occurs in John's. 
It was added to the last four Pronouns in ignorance of the in- 
flectional character of the r. 

* Neither class of Possessives, though often called Adjective- 
Pronouns', is entitled to the name : ( 1 ) is never pronominal, 
(2) never adjectival, in use. 

* Mine and thine, however, were once Adjectives, as well as 
Pronouns ; as in "Mine house," " thine own eye." 

Page 91. ( 42 ) Which, when used Interrogatively, is generally 
used as an Adjective rather than as a Pronoun. But it is some- 
times used by itself where you can scarcely supply the Noun 
from the sentence, e.g. "You mentioned John and Thomas. 
Which of them did you see ? " Here, according to our rule (see 
p. 85), which must be a Pronoun. 

Pages 94, 95. ( 43 ) Which, neither, and other, are Pronouns, for 
you cannot supply Nouns after them, from the sentence. 

Page 97. ( 44 ) Note that ivhom and which can always be used 
as Conjunctive Pronouns with Prepositions, even when the 
Antecedent is incomplete. 

Page 100. ( 45 ) Even (see Note 16 ) is connected with some 
word to be supplied : ' * even for so natural a thing as thanking 
me." " To thank " is the same as " for thanking." 

Page 100. ( 46 ) Less advanced pupils may say " Who is put 
for 'what person/ what is put for 'what thing :' therefore they 
are Pronouns," before they describe what sort of Pronouns they 
are. But you cannot always fairly say that what is put for what 
thing, e.g. in " What did he say ? " " What do you think ? " 

Page 100. ( 47 ) If that had been put for "the lane," and not 
used Conjunctively, that would not have been a Relative Pro- 
noun. 

Page 102. ( 48 ) But is here a Preposition, meaning except 
(See Note 25 .) 

Page 102. ( 49 ) But here means only, and is an Adverb. 

Page 103. ( 50 ) For older pupils this rule might be expressed 
less mechanically, thus : — 

(1) That introduces something necessary to complete the 
meaning of the Antecedent. 

(2) Who, or which, introduces a new fact about the Antece- 
dent. 

Page 105. ( 61 ) Or other changes, e.g. teach, taught; break, 
broken. 



Notes. 119 

Page 111. ( 52 ) The pupil is now prepared to tell the Parts of 
Speech in easy narrative, with the exception of (a) the Infini- 
tives dependent on Auxiliary Verbs when used Indicatively ; 
(b) it and there when used redundantly. 

(a) As regards Auxiliaries, the pupil need not be expected for 
the present to distinguish them from their dependent Infinitives. 
For example, in parsing "the baby could just walk, or, must 
not walk," he may say "could walk, and must walk" state what 
the baby could do, or must (not) do : therefore they are Verbs. 

(b) As regards it and there in (1) " it is sometimes right to be 
angry," (2) "there was once a great king," the pupil maybe 
taught that these sentences have the same meaning as (1) "to 
be angry is sometimes right," (2) "a great king once was." 
But, as these sentences (especially the last) sound badly, it and 
there are inserted to prepare the way for what follows, and may 
be called a Preparatory Pronoun and Adverb respectively. 



120 



The Parts of Speech. 

How to Tell the 



Write the words in a column on the left hand ; 
then find out what each word does. After that, 



Word. 


What the word does. 


What Part of Speech 
the word is. 


1. 


Is a Name. 


Therefore it is a 
Noun. 


2. 


Is put for a Noun. 


Therefore it is a 
Pronoun. 


3. 


Can come before a Noun ; an- 
swers the question (1) which? 
(2) whose? (3) of what sort? 
or in what condition? (4) in 
what order? (5) how many? 
or how much ? 


Therefore it is 
an Adjective. 


4. 


Makes a 1 statement about some- 
thing. 

1. What anything does. 

2. What is done to anything. 

3. In what condition anything is. 


Therefore it is a 
Verb. 



Tests. 
If you are in doubt what Part of Speech a word 
is, the following Tests will sometimes be useful to 
you : — 

1. Nouns and Pronouns. — If a word (sometimes 
with 'a'or ' the' before it) can come after ' I like,' 
or ' I dislike,' in answer to the question, u What do 
you like ? " it is a Noun or Pronoun. 

2. Adjectives. — If a word can 2 come between a 

1 Or " may be used to make a statement." (See page 106.) 

2 There are very few Adjectives that cannot be thus used. The 



Notes. 



121 



Parts of Speech. 

you may write down what Part of Speech each word 



Word. 


What the word does. 


What Part of Speech 
the word is. 


5. 


Answers the question : — 

(1) how? (2) when? (3) where? 
or (4) how far is this true ? 


Therefore it is 
an Adverb. 


6. 


Can come before a Noun and, 
with the Noun, makes up (1) 
an Adjective or (2) Adverb. 
(See also Test 4 below.) 


Therefore it is a 
Preposition. 


"7. 


Joins two Sentences. 


Therefore it is a 
Conjunction. 


8. 


Is put for a Noun, joins two 
Sentences, refers to an Ante- 
cedent. 


Therefore it is a 
Relative Pro- 
noun. 



or the and a Noun, it is an Adjective: "a good 
boy," " the six boys." 

3. A Verb. — If a word can take '1/ 'you,' or 
4 he,' before it, and make sense, it is a Verb. 

4. A Preposition. — If a word can take ' them ' 
after it, and not ' he,' ' you,' or ' I,' before it, it is a 
Preposition. 

following are the principal exceptions : — (1) The Adjectives answer- 
ing to the question whose f ( 5 ) viz. my, your, our, etc. : (2) some 
Adjectives answering to the question how many? viz. none, no, both, 
all, any, some, many, more, most, another, several, each, every, either, 
neither. 



APPENDIX. 



HINTS ON SPELLING. 

English Spelling is so irregular that no systematic rules 
can be laid down for it. The knowledge of the derivation 
of a word is often a help towards the spelling of it ; but this 
is not always the case. The best way to spell well is to 
read often, and so to become familiar with words. Thus 
misspelt words will be detected by their strange look. 

Change of Letters. — The following principle will ex- 
plain many of the variations in the spelling of words : — 

Rule. — A letter is often changed or doubled in passing 
from one form of a word to another, in order to preserve the 
original sound. 

I. — y. For example, -y final preceded by a consonant, 
as in " happy," is changed into i upon the addition of -er, 
-est , -alj -ed, -ous, or of any other affix (except -ing) begin- 
ning with a vowel. Otherwise the sound of the word 
might be altered, e. g. 7 " happ-f/er/ 7 " gi&d-yest." Hence — 

Defy, defi-ance; eas?/, easi-est; remedy, remedz-al, remedi- 
ed; merry, merri-er ; country, countri-es. 

In many of these words the original termination was -ie, which 
indeed was the regular English equivalent of the French -e: 

citie ; nobilitie ; felicitie ; clergie. 

This rule is also extended to -y before other affixes, viz., 
-ment, -ly, -ful : — 

Necessarily; greedi-ness; beautt-ful. 



124 Appendix. 

II. — y. When (1) the affix is -ing, or (2) -y is already 
preceded by a vowel, or (3) -y terminates a monosyllable, 
— in all these cases -y remains generally unchanged : — 

(1) Pitying ("pitiing"); (2) enjoy-ment, valleys; (3) dry- 
ness. 

The reasons are (1) the desire to avoid ii; in (2) and 
(3) because the sound is not altered by the retention of -y. 

Exceptions. — Nevertheless, out of conformity to other 
words — 

" Dry " m makes "dri-er," " dri-est ; " " try," " trc-al," 
"tri-er;" "day," "dai-ly;" "pay," "pai-d;" "fly," 
"fli-es;" "lay," "lai-d," "lay" (Past Tense of "lie"), 
"lai-n;" "say," "sai-d;" "gay," "gai-ly," "gai- 
ety." 1 

N.B. Pite-ous, plente-ows, from "pity," "plenty." 

III. When a word ends in -ie, the juxtaposition of -iei 
in the Active Participle is avoided by changing -ie into 

-y • — 

Die, dy-ing; lie, ly-ing, but li-ar. 

Omission of Letters. — Eule. -e final is (IV.) dropped 
before an affix beginning with a voivel ; but (V.) retained 
before an affix beginning with a consonant 

IV. Instances of Rule IV. are — 

Grieve, griev-ance ; fame, fam-ows ; sense, sens-i&Ze ; judge, 
judg-ing ; please, pleas-z^e ; remove, remov-aWe / blame, 
b\a,m-ing ; sphere, spher-ica£. 

Exceptions to IV. — (a) C and g, though soft (e. g. in 
"service," u outrage") must necessarily become hard if 
followed by an affix beginning with a, o, or u. To prevent 
(!) this and (2) other changes^of sound, final -e is some- 
times retained : — 

(1) Service, service-a£>/e ; outrage, outrage-ows. 

(2) Unsale-able. 

Exceptions to IV. — (b) When -e is preceded by -t, -o, 
-e, -y, it is often retained before -ing, -able. This is in 

1 * But gayly, gayety — Webster, Worcester, Richardson. Gaily and gaiety, 
older forms most probably due to French gai, gaiete, seem still to be the best 
usage in England, and are not unusual in America. 



Appendix. 125 

order to preserve the sound of the word, which might other- 
wise be changed : — 

SShoe-ing (not " shoing ") ; agree-able (not u agrea-ble "). 

The -e is also retained in the Active Participles u dye- 
ing," u singe-ing," " swinge-ing," in order to distinguish 
them from u dy-ing," " sing-ing," and " swing-ing." 

Exceptions to V. : — 

Abridg-ment, acknowledg-ment, argu-ment, aw-ful, du-ly, 
judg-ment, tru-ly, whol-ly. 

Rule VI. — A monosyllable ending in -11 (1) when fol- 
lowed by an affix beginning with a consonant, or (2) when 
itself used as an affix, generally drops one -1 : — 



Al-most, although, already, albeit, almighty, also, al- 
together, always, bel-fry, 
ly, drol-ly, ful-ne&s, re-cat, 



together, always, bel-fry, ful-nl, 1 wel-fare, el-how, ful- 
cal. 1 



This is the shape in which Rule VI. suggests itself to us 
in modern times. But, in reality, al, wel, el, are the old 
English forms, and are retained in the modern English 
compounds Ti aZ- though," "weZ-fare," u eZ-bow." 

In u re-caV 71 " ful-jfe?/ 71 the I was probably dropped to 
assimilate the spelling to that of the common words " al- 
though," " with-al," &c. 

" Bel-fry" is not in reality derived from " bell." See 
Etymological Dictionary. 

In several words, the syllable in -11 has not coalesced 
with the other syllable so completely as to be regarded as 
an affix or prefix. It is therefore treated as a separate t 
word, and retains -11. Hence — 

Under-se^ (and several words ending in -ness), tall-ness, 
small-ness, ill-ness, shrill-ness, droll-ness, fare-well, un- 
well, he-fall, down-fall, cat-call. 

Doubling Letters. — Rule VII. 

If the termination of a word is a consonant preceded by 
a vowel (e. g., u -it"), then on receiving an affix beginning 

1 * In America, the best usage favors -U at the end of such compounds ; e. g., 
fulfill, recall. 



126 Appendix. 

with a vowel (e.g. "-ing"), the final consonant in the 
word is doubled (e. g. " -itting "), provided that the word is 
a monosyllable (e. g. " sit "), or a polysyllable accented on 
the last syllable (e. g. " remit "). 

This is in order to preserve the sound. If the consonant 
were not doubled, " hop-ping 77 would be confused with 
" hop-ing 77 : — 

(1) Hop, hop-ping; thin, thm-rcer; fat, fat-test. 

Accent not on the last. 



Accent on the last 
forgetting, remitting 
infe?'-ring, refef'-ring 
occur-ring, acquitting 



bracketing, debiting 
cove?*-ing, offer-ing 
sever-ing, crediting 



Exceptions to VII. — Words ending in -7, although not 
accented on the last syllable, nevertheless double -I: — 

Traveling, -ler; counsel-ting, -for; revesting, -Zer; marvel- 
Zing, -Zous; rivaling; leveled; untramme£-/ed. Also, 
worshipping. l 

Unparallel-ed is an exception. 2 



Exercises. 

I. and II. Add as many as possible of the affixes -al, 
-edj -er, -s, -ly, -ness, -ous 7 -s, to the following words : — 

Lonely, employ, gaudy, daisy, decay, steady, accompany, enjoy, 
effigy, silly, occupy, busy, giddy, jelly, colloquy, chimney, 
ready, journey, shabby, annoy, prophesy, felony, try, lovely, 
efficacy, convey, lofty, supply, dismay, defy, gay, vary, penury, 
stately, day, accompany, pity, marry, plenty, continue. 

IV. and V. Add as many as possible of the affixes -able, 
-ing, -ly, -ment, -ous 7 -er f -y, to the following words : — 

Love, peace, move, blame, marriage, whole, sole, decree, ease, feeble, 
advantage, true, spice, village, due, charge, trouble, trace, pledge, 
judge, guarantee, manage, abridge, disagree, excuse.' 

1 * And a few more ; e.g., bias, kidnap. These words were once, perhaps, 
accented on the last syllable. 

2 Probably owing to the fact that " unparalleled » is of Greek derivation; 
containing the Greek long e, it may have been once pronounced " unparal- 
leled," and spelt accordingly. 



Appendix. 127 

VII. Add -ing, -ence, -er, -ous (where possible), to — 

Control, bargain, recal, 1 peril, benefit, admit, ballot, danger, infer, 
pencil, debit, acquit, abhor, glutton, begin, poison, suffer, traitor, 
gambol, extol, rebel, travel, compel, level, worship, cancel, 
model, sever, equip, allot, riot, murder, befit, ruin, sin. 



Reasons for Apparent Irregularities. 

I. -eive, -ieve. — It is sometimes difficult to decide, in 
such words as "receive," "believe," etc., whether the e or 
i should come first ; but the difficulty will vanish if it is 
borne in mind that (except after c) i comes first : — 

(1) Believe, reprieve, retrieve, grieve, mischief, mischievous. 

(2) Deceive, deceit, conceive, conceit, receive, receipt. 

The reason for the exceptional spelling of -ceive, is that 
this termination represents the Latin cap-, French cev- ; 
whereas -ie is the non-Latin termination. 

II. -eed, -ede. — A few compounds from the Latin ced- 
were introduced early and received the English spelling : — 

Succeed, proceed, exceed. 

These words are very common in Shakespeare's plays. 
Other compounds were not introduced till afterwards, when 
it was no longer the custom to Anglicize the spelling of 
foreign words. Hence the Latin or French spelling is re- 
tained in — 

Accede, concede, precede, recede. 

These four are not found in Shakespeare's plays. 2 

The English spelling also accounts for the double e in 
".agreeable" (Fr. agreable), "degree" (Fr. degre). 

III. -or, -our, -er. — These terminations are from different 
sources : -or is Latin ; -our is Latin though French ; -er 
is English. Hence, — 

1 * See Note *, page 125. 

2 " Preceding " is used once as an Adjective, and once as a Participle ; in 
the latter case it is spelt " preceading." 



128 Appendix. 

Latin: (1) Actor, collector, demonstrator. 
French: (2) Colour, honour, odour. l 
English: (3) Painter, player. 

Note that, whenever a Noun is formed according to English and 
not according to Latin rules, then, though the Verb be of Latin or 
French-Latin origin, the termination is generally -er; e.g. " defend- 
er," " extinguish-er " (the Latin Nouns would be defens-or, extinct- 
or); "vict-or," but " vanquish-er." 

There is a tendency, especially in advertisements, to save space 
by omitting the French -u. *' Governor" (for "governour ") is now 
recognized as correct, and "honor" is aspiring to correctness. 2 

IV. Latin: -(a)ble, -ible. — Strictly speaking, -ble, and 
not -able, is the Latin termination, a being part of the Eoot. 
Thus the Latin word was penetra-, and the termination 
-ble. In the same way, in a few cases, but not many, i is 
part of the Root, and -ble is the termination : — 

(1) Penetra-ble, indisputa-ble, delecta-ble, indispensa-ble, 
inconsola-ble, indomita-ble, insupera-ble, demonstra-ble. 

(2) Audi-ble, edi-ble, incorrupt-ible, indigest-ible, indestruct- 
ible, reprehens-ible, incomprehens-ible, incompress-ible. 

V. English : -able. — This termination is used with Eng- 
lish Verbs, e.g. u lovable," and also with many Latin 
Verbs (even where the root does not end in -a) , provided 
that the Verb is so common as to be regarded as English : — 

Latin words with English termination 

Indefinable, inextinguishable, redeemable, perishable, at- 
tributable, disposable. 

VI. (l)-se, (2) ce. — - Distinguish between (1) the ter- 
mination of the Verb in -se and (2) the termination of the 
Noun in -ce : — 

(1) Advise, license, practise, devise, prize. (Verbs.) 

(2) Advice, licence, practice, device, price. (Nouns.) 

1 * In America (and, to some extent, in England) the u is now omitted 
from words of this class. (See below.) 

2 * The reason for this omission is, however, a better one than the desire to 
save space. Our language has never been consistent in spelling words of this 
class ; and the w, though etymologically important, is really a hindrance to 
correct spelling. 



Appendix. 129 

Spelling List. 

The following words should be noted. They may be 
combined in sentences for dictation, or may be set by the 
pupils to one another. They are purposely unarranged : — 

Niece, awkward, seize, courageous, ceiling, league, colonel, 
leisure, almond, treasure, intrigue, kernel, clothing, 
grandeur, ghastly, heifer, punishment, intelligence, vil- 
lains, gardener, realm, principal, mountainous, principle, 
friar, poniard, sergeant, abhorrent, pony, necessarily, 
unparalleled, quarrelling, ecstasy, cavilling, kidnapping, 
limiting, dignitary, practice (Noun), reprieve, continu- 
ally, character, potato, pedlar, 1 annually, anomaly, busi- 
ness, mischievous, indictment, onions", cabbages, ven- 
geance, deign (Verb), embarrassment, anonymous, 
committee, couple, camphor, giraffe, syrup, guerilla, 
mosquito, verandah, 2 azure, hammock, phosphorus, 
apartment, annalist, apparition, license (Verb), recede, 
decalogue, etymology, apparel, courteous, succeed, fur- 
lough, miscellany, scythe, morocco, chocolate, cemetery, 
proceed, accessory, bouquet, paroquet, exchequer, ban- 
quet, masquerade, accede, gelatine, obsequies, gazette, 
effigies, etiquette, balloon, encyclopaedia, leopard, gudg- 
eon, counterfeit, pigeon, menagerie, besiege, bereave, 
concede, inveigle, obeisance, complaisant, bivouac, 
neighbor, pleurisy, journeys, quarantine, unique, cy- 
linder, symptom, hydrophobia, rubies, valleys, mimick- 
ing, noticeable, milliner, sepulchre, available, sedentary, 
peremptory, pelisse, analyst, symmetry, guinea, speci- 
men, simile, metaphor. 

1 * Or pedler or peddler. 

2 * Better, veranda. 



ETYMOLOGICAL GLOSSARY 



OP 



GRAMMATICAL TERMS. 



Few "of the terras explained below are used by the author, and 
many of them are misused or badly constructed, e.g. "article," 
44 accusative." But, as they are used" in many grammatical treatises, 
it has been thought desirable to explain them, especialty as an ex- 
planation is sometimes the best means of proving them to be super- 
fluous or erroneous, when applied to English Grammar. 

The References, when not otherwise stated, are to the Paragraphs 
in How to Parse. 

The meaning given opposite to each word is the Etymological 
meaning. For a fuller or more accurate definition, the pupil is re- 
ferred to the Paragraph mentioned in each case. 



Ablative (Case) [L. ab, 
1 ' from ; ' ' lotus, ' ' carried " ] . 
The name for a Latin case, de- 
noting, among other things, 
ablation, or carrying away from. 

Absolute (Construction) [L. ab, 
" from ; " solut-, "loosed "]. 
A construction in which a 
Noun, Participle, etc., is used 
apart, i. e. loosed from, its ordi- 
nary Grammatical adjuncts 
(Par. 135). 

Abstract (Noun) [L. abs, 
1 ' from ; ' ' tract-, l ' drawn " ] . 
The name of an abstraction, 
i. e. of something considered 
by itself, apart from {drawn 
away from) the circumstances 

• in which it exists. 

Accent [L. ad, "to ;" cantus, 
1 ' song " ] . Perhaps originally 
a sing-song, or modulation of 
the voice, added to a syllable. 



Now used of stress laid on a 
syllable. 

Accidence [L. accident — " be- 
fall "]. That part of grammar 
which treats of the changes 
that befall words. 1 

Accusative (Case). 2 The Lat- 
in name for the Direct Objec- 
tive Inflexion. Possibly the 
Romans regarded the object as 
being in front of the agent, like 
an accused person confronted 
with the prosecutor. 

Active (Voice). The form of a 
Verb that usually denotes act- 
ing or doing. 

Adjective [L. ad, " to ; " jact, 
"cast or put"]. A word put 
to a Noun. 

Aphaeresis [Gr. ap, "from;" 
hairesis, ' ' taking "] . Taking 
a letter or syllable from the 
beginning of a word. 



1 Quintilian, i. 5, 41 : " frequentissime in verbo, quia plurima huic acci- 
dunt." 

2 Probably a Latin mistake. The Greek original meant (1) cause, (2) accu- 
sation. The Latins took it in sense (2) instead of (1). 



132 



Etymological Glossary of 



Adjunct [L. ad, "to;" junct, 
"joined"]. A word gram- 
matically joined to another 
word. 

Adverb [L. ad, "to;" verb, 
"word" or "Verb"]. A 
word generally joined to a 
Verb (45). 

Adversative [L. adversus, "op- 
posite "]. An epithet applied 
to Conjunctions that (like 
" but " ) express opposition. 

Affix [L. ad, u to;" fix, 
"fixed"]. A syllable or let- 
ter fixed to the end of a word. 

Agreement. The change made 
in the inflections of words so 
that they may suit or agree 
with one another in a sentence 
(78). 

Alexandrine. A rhyming verse 
of twelve Iambic syllables, said 
to be so called from its being 
used in an old French poem on 
Alexander the Great. 

Alphabet [Gr. alpha, beta ; 
"a," "b"]. The list of let- 
ters, so called from the names 
of the first two letters in Greek. 

Anacolouthon [Gr. a-, "not;" 
acolouthon, " following "] . A 
break in the Grammatical se- 
quence, or following. 

Analysis [Gr. ana, "back;" 
lusis, ' ' loosing "] . Unloosing 
anything (e. g. a Sentence) 
back into its constituent parts. 
Hence an analytical period in a 
language. See Par. 556. 

Anomaly. A Greek- formed 
word meaning " unevenness," 
"irregularity." 

Antecedent [L. ante, "be- 
fore;" cedent, "going"], (a) 
That part of a sentence which 
expresses a condition (167). So 
called because the condition 
must go before its consequence. 



See consequent (2). (b) Also 
used for the Noun that goes be- 
fore sl Relative Pronoun. 

Anti-climax. The opposite of 
a climax. A sentence in which 
the meaning sinks in impor- 
tance, instead of rising at the 
close. 

Antithesis [Gr. anti, 

" against ; " thesis, "plac- 
ing"]. The placing of word 
against word, by way of con- 
trast. 1 

Apodosis [Gr. apodosis, "a 
paying back"]. A Greek 
name for the "Consequent." 
The condition was regarded by 
the Greeks as demanding its 
consequence, as a sort of debt, 
to be paid in return for the ful- 
filment of the condition. 

Apostrophe [Gr. apo, "from;" 
strophe, "turning."]. A mark 
showing a vowel is omitted, so 
called because it is turned away 
from the next consonant. 2 

Appellative [L. appella, "call 
to"]. Another name for the 
Vocative or calling use of a 
noun. Paragraph 32. 

Apposition [L. ad, "near;" 
posit, "placed"]. The pla- 
cing of one noun or pronoun 
near another, for the purpose 
of explanation (137). 

Archaism [Gr. archaios, " an- 
cient "]. An ancient word or 
expression. 

Article [L. articulus, "a little 
joint or limb"]. A name (a) 
correctly given by the Greeks 
to their "article," because it 
served as a, joint uniting several 
words together ; (b) then loose- 
ly used by the Latins (as was 
natural seeing they had no 
"article") of any short word, 
whether Verb, Conjunction, or 



1 See How to Write Clearly, Par. 41. 

2 In Rhetoric, the apostrophe is the turning away from one's audience to 
address some absent person. The old name for the Grammatical apostrophe 
was apostrophus ; and this would be useful to distinguish it from the Rhetori- 
cal term. 



Grammatical Terms. 



133 



Pronoun; (c) foolishly intro- 
duced into English, and once 
used to denote "the " and " a." 

Aspirate [L. ad, "to;" spira-, 
"breathe"]. The strongly- 
breathed letter, h. 

Asyndeton [Gr. a, "not;" 
syndeton, "bo and together"]. 
The omission of Conjunctions, 
so that sentences are not bound 
together. 

Attribute. A quality attributed 
to a person or thing. 

Auxiliary (Verbs) [L. auxilia-, 
* 4 to help"]. Verbs, that are 
used as helpers or companions 
to other Verbs (95). 

Bathos [Gr. bathos, "depth"]. 
A ludicrous fall to a depth, i. e. 
a descent from the elevated to 
the mean in writing or speech. 1 

Cardinal (Numbers) [L. car- 
din-, ' ' hinge " ] . That on which 
anything hinges or turns : 
hence, "important," "princi- 
pal." A name given to those 
more important forms of Nu- 
meral Adjectives from which 
•the Ordinal forms are derived. 

Case[L. casus, ." falling "] . The 
Latin translation of the Greek 
term for the uses of a Noun. 
The Greeks regarded the sub- 
jective form as "erect" and 
the other forms as more or less 
falling away from it. Hence 
the terms "oblique," "de- 
cline," &c. 

Clause [L. claus-, "shut"]. A 
number of words shut up within 
limits. In this book the word 
is used of a sentence preceded 
by a Conjunction, the sentence 
and Conjunction together being 
called a Clause (239). 

Climax [Gr. climax, "ladder"]. 
The arrangement of a sentence 
like a ladder, so that the mean- 
ing rises in force to the last. 2 

1 See Par. 40, How to Write Clearly. 

2 See Par. 39, How to Write Clearly. 

3 Hence to conjugate a Verb is to repeat the inflections belonging to the 
class or conjugation. But the Romans used decline and not conjugate in this 
sense (Madvig). 



Cognate (Object) [L. Co-, "to- 
gether; " nut-, " born "]. The 
name given to an object that 
denotes something akin to (born 
together with) the action de- 
noted bv the Verb (125). 

Colon [Gr. colon, " limb "J. The 
stop marking off a limb or 
member of a sentence. 

Comma [Gr. comma, a " sec- 
tion "] . The stop marking off a 
section of a sentence (294-308). 

Common (Noun). A name 
that is common to a class and 
not peculiar or proper to an 
individual. 

Comparative (Degree). The 
form of an Adjective denoting 
that a quality exists in a greater 
degree in some one thing than 
in some other with which it is 
compared. 

Complementary [L. comple-, 
"fill up"]. That which com- 
pletes or Jills up (97, 106). 

Complete (State). A name 
given to an action (whether 
Past, Present, or Future) that 
was, is, or will be complete 
(72). 

Complex (Sentence) [L. con-, 
' ' together ; ' ' pile-, ' ' fold "] . A 
sentence that is folded together, 
or involved. Hence a sentence 
containing one or more Subor- 
dinate sentences (250). 

Compound (Sentence) [L. con, 
or com, "together;" pon-, 
"place"]. A sentence made 
up of a number of Co-ordinate 
sentences placed together (247). 

Concord. The name given to 
syntactical agreement between 
words, e. g. between Verb and 
Subject. 

Conjugation [con, "together;" 
jugatio, "joining"]. A num- 
ber of Verbs joined together in 
one class. 3 



134 



Etymological Glossary of 



Conjunction [L. con, "to- 
gether ; ' ' junct-, ' ' joined " ] . 
A word that joins two sentences 
together. 

Consequent. The name given 
to that part of a sentence which 
expresses the consequence of the 
fulfilment of a condition. See 
Antecedent, and Paragraph 167. 

Consonant [L. con, "togeth- 
er;" sonant-, ' ' sounding "] . 
Letters (such as p) that can 
only be sounded together with 
a vowel. 

Continuous (State). The name 
given to an action (whether 
Past, Present, or Future) that 
is, was, or will be continuing 
or incomplete (72). 

Copula [L. copula, "bond"]. 
The word "is," so called be- 
cause it binds or connects Sub- 
ject and Predicate in Logic. 

Correlatives. Words that are 
related together or mutually re- 
lated, e.g. "either," "or;" 
"both," "and;" "when," 
"then." 

Dative [L.dativ-, 1 "that which 
has arisen from giving "] . The 
Latin name for the Indirect Ob- 
jective case used after Verbs of 
giving, etc. (126). 

Declension. The bending or 
declension of the Oblique (see 
Oblique, below) cases from the 
Subjective form, which was re- 
garded as " erect." Hence ap- 
plied to the statement of the 
cases of a Noun. 

Definite (Article). A name 
given to the Adjective " the " 
from the fact that "the" de- 
jines its Noun. See Article. 

Definition [L. de, "from;" 
jinit-i " marked out," " bound- 
ed "1 . That which marks out 
the boundaries of anything so 



as to distinguish it from all 
other things. N. B. Not a 
mere "description." 

Degree (of comparison) [L. 
gradus, Fr. degre, "step"]. 
The forms expressing the steps 
or degrees in which a quality 
can be expressed by an Adjec- 
tive. 

Dentals [L. dent-, "tooth"]. 
Consonants pronounced with 
the aid of the teeth ; d, n, t. 

Dependent (Sentence). Some- 
times used for Subordinate. 
But generally applied to Sub- 
ordinate sentences that are the 
Subjects or Objects of Verbs. 

Diaeresis [Gr. diairesis, " sep- 
aration"]. The mark placed 
over one of two vowels to show 
that each is to be pronounced 
separately; e.g. in "aerial." 

Diphthong [Gr. di, "twice;" 
phthongos, "sound"]. Two 
vowel sounds pronounced as one. 

Direct (Object). The Noun that 
denotes what is regarded as the 
direct object of the action of a 
Verb." 

Ellipsis [Gr. elleipsis, "omis- 
sion"]. The omission of words 
(said to be "understood," i.e, 
implied) in a Sentence. 

Emphasis [Gr. emphaino, "I 
make clear"]. Stress of the 
voice laid on particular words 
or syllables in order to make 
the meaning clear. 

Epigram [Gr. epi, "on;" 
gramma, "writing"]. A writ- 
ing on a monument. Hence a 
short poem. Hence a short 
pointed poem or saying. 3 

Epithet [Gr. epithetos, "placed 
to "]. An Adjective placed to 
a Noun to describe some qua- 
lity of the person or thing de- 
noted by the Noun. 



1 Termination -ivus in Latin, when added to Participles, denotes that which 
has arisen from, e.g. " captivus," thai which has arisen from " capture. 11 

2 See Par. 14. 

8 The point will generally be at the end. Intentional " bathos " sometimes 
borders on " epigram." See How to Write Clearly , Par. 42. 



Grammatical Terms. 



135 



Etymology [Gr. etymon, " true 
meaning;" logia, "science"]. 
The science of the true meaning 
of words, according to their 
derivation. 

Euphony [Gr. eu, "well;" 
phone, "sound"]. That which 
sounds ic 'ell. 

Flat (Consonants). B, d, g. 

Foot. The metrical subdivision 
of a verse. A verse being sup- 
posed to run, its limbs or 
members might well be called 
feet. 

Frequentative (Verb). A 
Verb that expresses a fre- 
quently repeated action, e. g. 
" pat-t-er." 

Gender [L. genus, Fr. genre, 
"breed," or "class"]. Forms 
to denote classification accord- 
ing to sex. There are no in- 
flexions for Genders in Eng- 
lish (37). 

Genitive (Case) [L. genitiv-, 
1 ' generating " ] . The name for 
the Latin case denoting genera- 
tion, origination, possession. 

* Sometimes applied to the Eng- 
lish Possessive Inflection. 1 

Gerund [L. gero, "I cany 
on"]. Part of a Latin Verb 
denoting the carrying on of the 
action of the Verb. There was 
once a gerundive form in Eng- 
lish (551). 

Grammar [Gr. gramma, a 
" letter; " Fr. " grammaire "]. 
The science of letters; hence 
the science of using words cor- 
rectly. 

Gutturals [L. guttur, 

" throat "]. Throat letters, Jc, 
and hard g. 

Heterogeneous (Sentence) 
[Gr. hetero-, "different;" ge- 
nos, "kind"]. A Sentence 
combining a number of Sen- 
tences of so different a kind 



from each other that they 
ought not to be combined. 2 

Iambus [Gr. iambos]. In Eng- 
lish, a foot of two syllables, 
the first unaccented, the sec- 
ond accented. 

Idiom [Gr. idioma, "peculiar- 
ity"]. A mode of expression 
peculiar to a language. 

Imperative (Mood) [L. im- 
pera-, " command"]. The com- 
manding Mood (70). 

Impersonal (Verbs). Verbs 
not used in the first or second 
Person (328). 

Incomplete (State). The forms 
of the Verb denoting an action 
in ah Incomplete State (72). 

Indefinite (Article). A name 
given to "an," "a," because 
the Adjective leaves its Noun 
undefined, or indefinite. See 
Article; also, Definite. 

Indefinite (State). The forms 
of the Verb denoting an action 
of which the State is not de- 
fined (72). 

Indicative (Mood) [L. indica-, 
1 ' point out " ] . The Mood that 
points out or indicates an action, 
etc., as a past, present, or future 
existence (70). 

Indirect (Object). The Noun 
or Pronoun denoting the person 
or thing regarded as not di- 
rectly but only indirectly influ- 
enced by the action of the 
Verb. But see Paragraph 118 
for a more satisfactory test. 

Infinitive (Mood) [L. in, 
"not;" finit-, "limited"]. 
A Mood not limited by any 
definition of Person or Number 
(70). 

Inflection [L. inflecto, "I 
bend"]. The bending of a 
word from the simple form, by 
means of varying the termina- 
tion. See Oblique, below. 



1 The Latin "genitivus" is a mistranslation of the Greek genike, which 
meant the generic case, i.e. the case that denoted the genus or class. For 
example, ' ' life," " What class of life ? " " Man's life." 

2 See Par. 43, How to Write Clearly. 



136 



Etymological Glossary of 



Interjection [L. inter-ject-, 
" thrown between "]. An 
utterance thrown in between 
words, to express emotion. 
Not a Part of Speech. 

Intransitive (Verb) [L. in, 
u not;" transitiv-, "passing 
across"]. A Verb whose ac- 
tion is not supposed to pass 
across to any Object. But see 
Transitive, below. 

Labials [L. labium, "lip"] 
Z/tp-letters : f, v, p, b, m, hw. 
(the real sound in which),8LXi& w. 

Language [L. lingua, Fr. 
langue, "tongue"]. The ex- 
pression of meaning by the 
tongue. 

Linguals [Latin, lingua, "the 
tongue "]. Letters whose 
sounds are produced by the 
tongue ; sh, s in pleasure. 

Liquids. Letters of a flowing, 
liquid sound, as I, r. 

Metaphor [Gr. meta, "from 
one to another; " phora, "car- 
rying"]. The carrying of a 
relation from one set of objects 
to another ; e. g. of the relation 
of ploughing from "plough" 
and "land" to "ship" and 
" sea." 1 

Metre [Gr. metron, "meas- 
ure "]. The measuring of lan- 
guage out into verses. 

Monosyllable [Gr. mono, "on- 
ly"]. A word of only one 
syllable. 

Mood [L. mod-, "manner"]. 
The form of a Verb expressing 
the manner of action (70). 

Mutes [L. mut-, "dumb"]. 
Letters that are dumb without 
the aid of a vowel : Jc, g, t, d, 
n, p, b, m. 

Nasal [L. nas-, "nose"]. Con- 
sonants sounded through the 
nose: n, m. 

Nominative (Case) [L. no- 



mina-, "to name"]. An old 
Latin term for the Subject, 
used because the Subject was 
regarded as a person or thing 
named. 

Noun [L. nomen, Fr. nom, 
" name "]. The name of any- 
thing. 

Object. The word, or group of 
words, denoting that which is 
regarded as the object or mark 
aimed at by the action of a 
Verb or the motion of the 
Preposition 2 (13). But see 
Definition in Paragraph 14. 

Oblique (Case). A name given 
to all Cases but the Subjective. 
By the Greeks the Subjective 
form of a Noun was regarded 
as erect, and all the other forms 
as fallings or oblique deviations 
from the Subjective. 

Ordinal (Adjective) [L. ordin-, 
"order"]. An Adjective that 
answers to the question, "In 
what order ? " 

Orthography [Gr. ortko, " cor- 
rect;" grapho, "I write"]. 
The correct writing of words, 
i. e. correct spelling. N. B. 
Not "calligraphy," "pretty 
writing." 

Parenthesis [Gr. para, 
"aside;" enihesis, "inser- 
tion"]. A word, phrase, or 
sentence, inserted aside, or by 
the way, in a sentence com- 
plete without it. 

Participle [L. particip-, "par- 
ticipating"]. A form of a 
Verb participating of the nat- 
ure of a Verb and of the nat- 
ure of an Adjective. 

Partitive [L. part-, "part"]. 
Denoting partition. 

Passive (Voice) [L.pass-, "suf- 
fering"] . The form of a Verb 
in which the Subject is sup- 
posed to suffer an action 3 (60). 



1 English Lessons for English People, page 78. 

2 This definition, though in accordance with Etymology, is often Grammati- 
cally inapplicable. 

8 This definition is unsatisfactory, See Par. 60. 



Grammatical Terms. 



137 



Palatals. Letters whose sounds 
are produced by the palate: 
chj. 

Perfect (Tense) [L. perfect-, 
" complete "]. The Name for 
the Latin Tense that has to 
represent (owing to the paucity 
of their Tenses) Indef. Past and 
Complete Present. 

Period [Gr. peri, "round;" 
od-, "path"]. (1) The full, 
rounded path of a complex 
sentence; (2) a mark at the 
end of a sentence. 

Person [L. per, "through;" 
son-, "sound;" hence, per- 
sona, "a mask through which 
an actor sounds ; " " an actor's 
part in a play"]. The part 
played in conversation, whether 
(1) speaking; (2) spoken to; 
(3) spoken of (79). 

Personification. Endowing 
what is impersonal with a Per- 
sonal Character. 1 

Phrase [Gr. phrasis, a "say- 
ing"]. A group of words not 
expressing a statement, ques- 

* tion, or command (239). 

Pluperfect (Tense) [L. plu-, 
" more ; " perfect-, " com- 
plete "]. A more than com- 
plete Tense. A Latin way of 
expressing the Complete Past. 

Plural (Number) [L. plu-, 
"more"]. The form of a 
Noun that denotes more than 
one (34-36). 

Poetry [Gr. poietes, a "mak- 
er"]. Language that is artisti- 
cally made, as distinguished 
from that which is ordinarily 
written or spoken. 

Polysyllable [Gr. poly, "ma- 
ny"]. A word of many syl- 
lables. 

Positive. The simple form of 
an Adjective ; so called because 
it expresses a quality not 
comparatively, but positively 
(42). 



Possessive (Use) [L. posses-, 
"possessed"]. The name 
given to the use or case of a 
Noun denoting possession (37). 

Potential (Mood) [L. potent-, 
" powerful "]. An old name 
for a supposed Mood, which is 
really either the Mood of Pur- 
pose, or else simply the Indie, 
of an Auxiliary Verb. So called 
because it involves the meaning 
of power or possibility. 

Predicate [L. pr&dica-, "pro- 
claim," " state "]. A word or 
group of words making a state- 
ment about a Subject (263). 

Prefix [L. pr&, "before;"^-, 
"fixed"]. A letter, syllable, 
or word fixed before another 
word. 

Preposition [L. pi-ce, "be- 
fore ;" posit-, "placed"]. A 
Word (not a Verb) placed be- 
fore a Noun or Pronoun that is 
its object. 

Preterite (Tense) [L. prmterit-, 
"past"]. A pedantical ex- 
pression for "the Past Tense." 

Prodosis [Gr. pro, "before;" 
dosis, "giving"]. Literally, 
• giving before. Hence, in a sen- 
tence, the Antecedent or Con- 
dition. See Apodosis. 

Pronoun [L. pro, "for;" no- 
men, " noun "]. A word used 
for a Noun. 

Proper (Noun) [L. propri-, Fr. 
propre, " peculiar"]. A name 
that is peculiar or proper to 
the individual, not common to 
a class. See Common. 

Prose [L. prosa, for prorsa, for 
pro-versa, 2 i. e. "turned for- 
ward "]. Writing that does 
not turn like verses (see Verse, 
below), but runs straight on. 
Hence, the straightforward ar- 
rangement of prose. 

Prosody [Gr. prosodia, a 
"song"]. Hence, that part 
of Grammar which treats of 



1 English Lessons for English People, page 131. 

2 Compare our e'er, o'er, for ever, over. 



138 



Etymological Glossary of 



verse, whether intended to be 
sung or not. 
Punctuation [L. punctum, 
"point"]. Dividing a sen- 
tence by means of points repre- 
senting the pauses. 
Quantity. The quantity of time 
necessary to pronounce a syl- 
lable. 

Redundant [L. re(d), "back;" 
undant-, ' ' flowing " ] . Flow- 
ing back or over, i. e. super- 
fluous. N. B. This word is 
often lazily used to appear to 
get rid of a difficulty. But few 
words are, strictly speaking, 
redundant; they serve some 
purpose, although the purpose 
may not be easy to detect. 

Reflexive (Verb) [L. reflect-, 
"bend back"]. A verb in 
which the action of the Subject 
is as it were bent back on the 
Subject, so that the Subject 
and Object denote the same 
person or thing. 

Relative (Pronoun) [L. re, 
"back;" lat-, "carried"]. , A 
name given to who, which, etc., 
when they do not carry one 
forward (as they do when used 
Interrogatively), but carry one 
bach to the Antecedent. 1 

Retained (Object). The name 
given to one of the Objects of a 
Transitive Verb when retained 
as the Object of the same Verb 
in the Passive (123). 

Rhyme [A.S. rim, "number"], 
identity of sound (from the 
vowel to the end) between two 
syllables at the end of two 
lines. 2 The Anglo-Saxon Po- 
etry was not based on rhyme 
but on alliteration. 

Rhythm [Gr. rhythmos, " flow- 
ing motion "], the flowing, regu- 
lar motion of verse and of 
periodic prose. 



Root. That form from which 
another word springs, as a tree 
springs from its root. 
Semicolon [L. semi, "half;" 
Gr. colon, " limb "]. Half of 
the colon, i.e. of the stop that 
marks off a separate limb or 
member of a sentence. 
" Sensuous " [L. sensu-, 
"sense"]. Appealing to the 
senses. Milton says that Po- 
etry should be " simple, sensu- 
ous, and passionate." 
Sentence [L. Sententia, a 
"meaning"]. A group of 
words of a meaning so far com- 
plete as to express a statement, 
question, command (239). 
Sharp (consonants) : k, p, t, so 
called from their sharp sound. 
Sibilant [L. sibila-, "hiss"]. 

Hissing letters : s, z, sh. 
Simile. A sentence expressing 
the similarity of relations ; e. g. 
between "plough" and 
" land," " ship " and " sea." 3 
Solecism [Gr. soloikismos ; 
"speaking like the men of So- 
loi " 4 ] . Inaccuracy of expres- 
sion. 
Spirants [L.spira-, "breathe"]. 
Letters in the pronunciation of 
whose sounds the breath is not 
wholly stopped, as it is in the 
pronunciation of "mutes." 
Stanza [It. stanza, a "stop"]. 
A division of a poem containing 
every variation of measure in 
the poem, and generally fur- 
nishing a stopping-place at its 
termination. 
Strong (Verbs). Verbs that 
make their Past Tenses and 
Passive Participles, not by 
adding -ed, -t, but by vowel 
changes. 
Style [L. stilus, "an instrument 
for writing "]. A manner of ex- 
pressing thought in language. 



1 See How to Tell the Parts of Speech, p. 98. 

2 Syllables altogether identical do not rhyme. 

8 See English Lessons for English People, page 126. 

4 The derivation usually given, but probably inaccurate. 



Grammatical Terms. 



139 



Subject [L. subject-, " placed 
under"]. That which is placed 
under one's thoughts, as the 
material or topic for speech. 
Hence the subject of a Verb is 
said to be that about which the 
Verb makes a statement. But 
see Par. 1, note. 

Subjunctive (Mood) [L. sub- 
junct-, "subjoined"]. A Mood 
expressing a purpose, condi- 
tion, etc., subjoined to some 
statement, question, or answer 
. (163). 

Subordinate (sentence) [L. 
sub, "beneath;" or din-, 
"rank"]. A sentence that 
ranks beneath another sentence. 
See Par. 249. 

Substantive (Noun) [L. sub- 
stantia, " substance "]. A use- 
less name given to Nouns 
denoting things said to have 
substantial existence. 

Suffix [L. sub, "beneath;"^-, 
"fixed"]. Same as Affix. 

Superlative (degree) [L. super, 

^" above:" lat-, "carried"]. 
An Adjectival form denoting 
the expression of a quality in 
a degree carried above other 
degrees (42). 

Supplement [L. sub, "up;" 
pie-, "fill"]. That which^s 
up, or supplies what is wanting 
in a Verb (148). 

Syllable [Gr. syn, "together; " 
lab-, "take"]. A group of 
letters taken together so as to 
form one sound. 

Syncope [Gr. syn, "alto- 
gether " or " quite ; " cope, 
"cutting"]. A considerable 
curtailment 1 or cutting of a 
word, by omitting letters in 
the middle; e. g. ne'er for 
never. 



Syntax [Gr. syn, "together;" 
taxis, "arranging "]. The ar- 
rangement of words together in 
a sentence. 

Synthesis [Gr. syn, "to- 
gether;" thesis, "placing"]. 
Placing together parts so as to 
form a whole. The opposite 
of analysis. Hence, a syntheti- 
cal period in language. See 
Par. 551. 

Tense [L. tempus, Fr. temps, 
"time"]. The forms of a 
Verb indicating the time of an 
action (71). 

Transitive [L. trans, " across ; " 
it-, "going"]. A Verb that 
has an object, so called because 
the action of the verb is re- 
garded as passing or going 
across to the Object (55). 

Trochee [Gr. trochos, "a run- 
ning "]. In English a foot of 
two syllables consisting of an 
accented, followed by an un- 
accented, syllable. So called 
from its brisk, or running, na- 
ture. 

Verb [L. verb-, "word "]. The 
chief word in a sentence. 

Verse [L. vert-, " turn "]. A line 
of poetrj- at the end of which 
one turns to a new line. 

Vocative [L. voca-, "call"]. 
The use or case of a Noun 
when the person or thing is 
called to (32). 

Vowels [L. vocalis, " having 
voice"]. The letters that have 
a voice or are sounded (not as 
the "consonants," but) by 
themselves : a, e, i, o, u. 

Weak (Verbs). Verbs that 
form their Past Tenses and 
Passive Participles by adding 
d or t, and not by changed 
Vowel. 



1 Perhaps " a cutting in the middle so as to pull the extremes together." 



140 Rules and Definitions. 



RULES AND DEFINITIONS. 

It is assumed that the ten following Definitions are known to the 
pupil : — 

1. A Noun is a name of any kind (page 7 *). 

2. A Pronoun is a word used for a Noun (page 8 1 ). 

3. An Adjective is a word that can be put before a Noun either to 
distinguish it, or to point out its number or amount (page 19 *). 

4. A Verb is a word that can make a statement (page 24 1 ). 

5. An Adverb is a word that answers to the question " how ? " 
" when ? " " where ? " or " how far is this true ? " (pages 38, 43 1 ). 

6. A Preposition is a word that can be placed before a Noun or 
a Pronoun, so that the Preposition and Noun or Pronoun together 
are equivalent to an Adjective or Adverb (page 57 1 ). 

7. 2 A Sentence is a collection of words expressing a statement, 
question, or command (page 30 2 ). 

8. 2 Any other collection of words, having a meaning, is called a 
Phrase (page 30 1 ), or Clause. See Glossary. 

9. A Conjunction is a word that joins two sentences together (page 
641). 

10. A Relative Pronoun is a Conjunctive Pronoun used so as to 
refer to a preceding Noun or Pronoun called the Antecedent (page 
98 i). 



1. The Subject of a Verb making a statement is the word or words 
answering to the question "who?" or "what?" before the Verb 
(Par. 1). 

2. The Object of a Verb or Preposition is the word or words an- 
swering to the question "whom?" or "what?" after the Verb or 
Preposition (14 8 ). 

3. When the Relative is followed by a Conjunction introducing a 
new Sentence, leave out this sentence in parsing^ the Relative (24). 

4. The Antecedent must sometimes be supplied from the sentence 
(25). 

5. The Relative is sometimes omitted (26). 

6. Some Pronouns are used Interrogatively, Conjunctively, and 
Relatively (28). 

7. The Uses or Cases of a Noun are four, viz. Subject, Object* 
Possessive, and Vocative (32). 

i The figures denote the pages of How to Tell the Parts of Speech on which 
the first ten Definitions will severally be found. 

2 A Sentence preceded by a Conjunction ceases to state y command, or ques- 
tion; it therefore becomes a Phrase, e. g. " When I saw John." Such a 
Phrase may conveniently be called a Clause. See Par. 239. 

3 These and the following References are to the Paragraphs in How to 
Parse. 

* If the Indirect Object is called a separate use, there will be five Uses of a 
Noun. 



Rules and Definitions, 141 

8. The Plural of a Noun is formed by adding -s to the Singular 
(34). 

9. The Possessive Use or Case, in the Singular and Plural, is 
formed by adding J s to the Singular or Plural form (37). 

10. An Adjective has three Degrees of Comparison, viz. Positive, 
Comparative, and Superlative (42). 

11. To form the Comparative and Superlative, add -er, -est, to 
Positives of one Syllable. "More "and " most " are used in other 
cases (43). 

12. A Verb that can have an Object is called Transitive ; a Verb 
that cannot, is called Intransitive. 1 

13. The Passive Voice of a Transitive Verb is the form assumed 
by the verb when its object is made the Subject (60). 

.14. The Active Voice of a Transitive Verb is the form that can be 
used with an Object (61). 

15. A Participle can be distinguished by the fact that it can be, 
in part, replaced by a Conjunctive word (66). 

16. Each Voice has four Moods : Infinitive, Indicative, Imperative, 
and Subjunctive (70). 

17. The Infinitive Mood speaks of an action without defining the 
doer (70). 

18. The Indicative Mood definitely points out an action (70). 

19. The Imperative Mood commands an action (70). 

20. The Subjunctive Mood expresses condition, purpose, wish, etc. 
(70). 

21. Verbs have three Tenses: Past, Present, and Future (71). 

22. Each Tense has four " States" of Action: the Indefinite, the 
Complete, the Incomplete, and the Complete Post-Continuous (73, 74). 

23. A Verb agrees with its Subject in Person and Number (78). 

24. "May," "can," "must," "will," "shall," "let," etc., are 
called Auxiliary Verbs (95). 

25. "To" is omitted in the Infinitive after the Auxiliary Verbs, 
and after " see," " hear," " feel " (96). 

26. An Infinitive may be used (1) as a Noun ; (2) as an Adverb ; 
(3) as an Adjective. 

27. The Indirect Object of a Verb is the word or phrase answering 
to the question, " For or to whom?" "For or to wnatV> when 
used after the Verb and the Direct Object (118). 

28. When an Active Verb taking two Objects is changed into the 
Passive Voice, one Object becomes the Subject of the Passive Verb, 
but the other is retained as Object (122). 

29. Some Verbs, generally Intransitive, can take an Object of a 
nature akin or cognate to the Verb, called the Cognate Object (125). 

30. The Object is sometimes used Adverbially to denote extension, 
price, point of' time (127-131). 

31. The Subject, generally with a Participle, is sometimes used 
Adverbially (135). 

32. A Noun or Pronoun, not Subject or Object of a Verb, but so 
connected with another Noun or Pronoun that we can understand be- 



1 The usual Definitions are given in Par. 65 ; but they are very unsatisfac- 
tory. 



142 Rules and Definitions. 

tween them the words, "I mean," "that is to say," etc., is said to 
be in Apposition to the latter (137). 

33. Nouns and Pronouns are used Subjectively when in Apposition 
to Subjects, and Objectively when in Apposition to Objects (138). 

34. The (1) Intransitive Verbs "is," "looks," "seems," "ap- 
pears," etc., and (2) the Transitive Verbs "make," "create," "ap- 
point," "deem," "esteem," being used to express identity, and, as 
it were, to place one Noun or Pronoun in apposition with another, 
may be called Verbs of Identity or Appositional Verbs (147). 

35. Verbs of Identity, when Intransitive and Passive, take a Sub- 
jective Supplement ; when Transitive, take an Objective Supplement 
(150). 

36. "It " and "there " are sometimes irregularly used to prepare 
the way for the Subject or Object (151). 

37. In a Conditional Sentence, (1) the Clause expressing the condi- 
tion is called the Antecedent ; (2) the Clause expressing the conse- 
quence of the fulfilment of the condition is called the Consequent 
(167). 

38. Auxiliary Verbs (when not following "if" or any other Con- 
junction expressing Condition) are used Indicatively, whenever they 
can be altered into the Indicatives of other Verbs (181). 

39. Whenever language is irregular, there is some cause for the 
irregularity (192). 

40. The three principal causes of irregularity are, I. Desire of 
brevity; II. Confusion of two constructions; III. Desire to avoid 
harshness of sound or of construction (198). 

41. A Simple Sentence is a Sentence that has only one Subject and 
only one Stating, Questioning, or Commanding Verb (245). 

42. When several Simple Sentences are connected by "and," 
"but," "so," "then," etc., so that each sentence is, as it were, 
independent, and of the same rank as the rest, each is called a Co- 
ordinate Sentence 1 (246). 

43. A Compound Sentence is a Sentence made up of Co-ordinate 
Sentences (247). 

44. When a number of sentences are connected by Conjunctions 
that are not Co-ordinate, the Sentence that is not introduced by a 
Conjunction is called the Principal Sentence (248). 

45. Sentences connected with a Principal Sentence by Conjunc- 
tions that are not Co-ordinate are called Sub-ordinate 1 (249). 

46. A Complex Sentence is the whole Sentence formed b} r the com- 
bination of the Principal and Subordinate Sentences (250). 

47. When a word passes from one form to another, a letter is often 
changed or doubled in order to preserve the original sound (266). 

48. Final -e is dropped before an affix beginning with a vowel, 
but retained before an affix beginning with a consonant (270). 

49. A monosyllable ending in -11, when followed by an affix be- 
ginning with a consonant, or when itself used as an affix, generally 
drops one -I (275). 

50. If the termination of a word is a consonant preceded by a 
vowel, then, on receiving an affix beginning with a vowel, the final 

1 The mark of a Subordinate Sentence is that when preceded by its Con- 
junction it cannot generally stand as a Sentence by itself. A Co-ordinate 
Sentence can thus stand by itself. 



Rules and Definitions. 143 

consonant in the word is doubled, provided that the word is a mono- 
syllable, or accented on the last syllable (277). 
".51. When a word is separated from its grammatical adjunct by 
any intervening Phrase, the Phrase should be preceded and followed 
by a comma 1 (224). 

1 For words, idioms, etc., the pupil is referred to the Alphabetical Index at 
the end of the book. 



University Press : John Wilson & Son, Cambridge. 



} 






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